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BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 

f . * W 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


THE REPUBLIC OF 

Guatemala 

1897. 


SPECIAL BULLETIN, FEBRUARY, 1897. 





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BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 


V 

THE REPUBLIC OF 

GUATEMALA 

1897 . 


SPECIAL BULLETIN, FEBRUARY, 1897. 


VA 

Monograph 






F /:^fG 5 


v 


If 


9590 


' 9 


While the utmost care is taken to insure accuracy in the publications 
of the Bureau of, the American Republics, no pecuniary responsibility is 
assumed on account of errors or inaccurrcies which may occur therein. 


?• 



A* 




1898 


WASm^i 





CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 


Introductory. 1 

Chapter I. Geographical Features. Situation, Limits, Area, 
Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Ports, Climate and Seasons, 
Salubrity. 3 

Chapter II. Political and Administrative Divisions. Prin¬ 
cipal Cities, Altitudes, Distances, Population. 8 

Chapter III. General Outline of the Constitution of the 

Country. Bill of Rights, Legislation. 11 

Chapter IV. Alten Residents. Their Rights and Duties, Alien 

Law, Law of Foreign Corporations. 10 

Chapter V. Immigration. Immigration Law, Wages and Cost 
of Living, Prices of Agricultural Material, Public In¬ 
struction, Libraries and Reading Rooms, Printing 
and Publishing, Charitable Institutions. 40 

Chapter VI. How to Reach Guatemala. Steamship Communi¬ 
cation with the United States of America and the 
rest of the world, Fares and Freight Rates, Railroads, 
Wagon Roads, Stage Lines. oO 

Chapter VII. Postal, Telegraphic and Telephonic Service... 61 

Chapter VIII. Government Expenses, Government Receipts, 

Public Debt, Taxation. 04 


Chapter IX. Commerce. Navigation. Statistics of Imports and 
Exports, Principal Countries Trading with Guate¬ 
mala . 

Chapter X. Banks. Credit, Insurance, Monetary System, Value 
of Foreign Coins, Weights and Measures, Agricul¬ 
tural and Stock Raising, Coffee, Cacao, India Rubber, 
Sugar Cane, Cereals, Grapes, Fruits, and other crops. 
Cattle Raising, Legislation to Promote Agriculture, 
Land Grants, Land Leases, Gratuitous Concessions, 


Special Privileges and Concessions, Labor Law. 75 

Chapter XI. Mines and Mining Law. 00 

Chapter XII. Manufacturing Industries. Patent Law. Con¬ 
cessions to Encourage Industry. 114 














ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

General Don Jose Maria Reina Barrios— Presidente de la 

Republica de Guatemala.Frontispiece 

View of the City of Quezaltenango. 9 

View of Guatemala City. 12 

Cathedral, Guatemala City. 40 

Avenue of Cocoanut Trees—Being the entrance of a sugar 

estate . 48 

School of Medicine, Guatemala City. 64 

University and National Institute, Guatemala City. 72 

Pier at Puerto Barrios. 80 

Post-Office, Guatemala City. 88 

Banco Internacional, Guatemala City. 96 

Union Hotel, Guatemala City. 104 

San Rafael—A Midway Station, between Guatemala City 
and La Antigua. 112 

Northern Railroad of Guatemala. 116 
















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* 

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, * * : - 1 • ' , 



































































































General Don Jose Maria Reina Barrios. 

Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala 






THE REPUBLIC OF GUATEMALA. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The Republic of Guatemala, the most populated of the five 
nations of Central America, owes her name to a mispronunciation 
by the Spaniards of the Indian word Quauhitemallan (land cov¬ 
ered with trees) by which her territory was designated at the time 
of the conquest. 

Pedro de Alvarado, one of the lieutenants of Cortes, invaded 
the country in 1523, and in a few months secured the whole con¬ 
trol of it. The struggle with the natives, not less heroical, and 
not less tarnished by acts of fiendish cruelty,than those in the rest 
of the new world, lasted but a few months. The sovereignty of 
Spain was practically established on the 25th of July, 1524, on 
which date it was proclaimed with great solemnity at the native 
town of Almolonga (long spring), where Alvarado established the 
seat of government. The name of this town was then changed 
into the most euphonious and thoroughly Spanish one of Santi¬ 
ago de los Caballeros (St. James of the Knights). 

Guatemala remained a Spanish possession until the 15th of 
September, 1821, on which date she proclaimed her indepen¬ 
dence. Her last Spanish ruler was Brigadier General Don Gavi- 
no Ainza. 

Shortly afterwards, 011 the 5th of January, 1822, the new nation 
decided, under an Act of Annexation passed for that purpose, to 
become a part of the Mexican empire. 

Upon the fall of Iturbide an assembly, consisting of representa¬ 
tives of Guatemala and the other provinces of Central America, 
held at Guatemala City, decided, on the 1st of July, 1823, to pro¬ 
claim the independence of the whole country, both “from old 
Spain and from Mexico or any other nation, whether of the Old 




2 


GUATEMALA. 


or of the New World,” and to establish a new nation under the 
name of “United Provinces of Central America’’ ( Provinc-ias 
Unidas dc Centro-America). 

About sixteen years later, April 17th, 1839, Guatemala seceded 
from this union, as the other provinces or states had done already. 
A decree issued by the Guatemalan Government on the date 
aforesaid, after reciting that “the states of Costa Rica, Honduras 
and Nicaragua had solemnly seceded from the federal union,” 
and “re-assumed respectively the administration of their own 
governments,” declared the State of Guatemala to be thenceforth 
a free, sovereign and independent nation. 

The name of “Republic of Guatemala” (Republica de Guate¬ 
mala) was given to the country by decree of March 21, 1847. Be¬ 
fore that date the name had been “El Estado de Guatemala” (the 
State of Guatemala). 

Guatemala is now rapidly developing her immense resources in 

perfect peace, under the wise provisions of the constitution pro¬ 
mulgated in 1879, an< J amended successively in 1885, 1887 and 
1889, and the patriotic rule of President Reina Barrios and his 
assistants. 



Chapter 1. 


GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 

Situation. 

The Republic of Guatemala is situated between 13 0 42' and 
17 0 49' north latitude, and 88° 10' and 92 0 30' longitude west of 
Greenwich. 

Limits 


Its limits are: On the north the Mexican States of Campeche 
and Yucatan, British Honduras and the Gulf of Honduras; on the 
east the Republics of Honduras and Salvador; on the south the 
Pacific Ocean; and on the west the Mexican States of Chiapas 
and Tabasco. 


Area. 

Its area is calculated to be 164,200 square kilometers, equiva¬ 
lent to 47,810 square miles. The length of its coast on the At¬ 
lantic side is 185 kilometers, or 100 miles, and on the Pacific side 
260 kilometers, or 140 miles. 

M ountains. 

The country is divided throughout its entire extent, from 
northwest to southeast, by the Cordillera de los Andes, otherwise 
called Guatemalan Andes, or simply the Andes. The territory 
which lies between these mountains and the Pacific Ocean is from 
50 to 80 kilometers wide; but that which lies on the other side is 
much wider, and constitutes the largest portion of the soil of 
the Republic. 

The Sierra Madre, also called “Montes Cuchumatanes,” crosses 
the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiche and Alta Verapaz. 



4 


GUATEMALA. 


The Sierra de Chama passes through the department of Alta 
Verapaz and Izabal, between La Pasion river on the north and 
the Cahabon and the Sarstoon rivers on the south. 

The Sierra de Santa Cruz is a continuation of that of Chama. 

The Sierra de las Minas in the departments of Baja Verapaz, 
Zacapa and Izabal, between the Polochic river, the Izabal lake 
and the River Dulce on the north, and the Motagua river on the 
south. 

The Sierra de Copan, or “Montana del Merendon," between the 
departments of Chiquimula and Izabal and the Republic of Hon¬ 
duras. The Motagua river runs on the north of this mountain. 
The Honduranean river named Chamelecon runs on the south. 

The Chiquimulilla mountain in the department of Santa Rosa, 
between the Los Esclavos river on the east and the Michatoya 
river on the west. 

The mean height of the Cordillera is 1,950 meters. The high¬ 
est points are: 

The Tajumulco Volcano (4,390 meters) and the Tacana Vol¬ 
cano (4,150 meters) in the department of San Marcos; the Acate- 
nango Volcano (3,906 meters) in the department of Chimalte- 
nango; and the volcano called “de Fuego” (3,740 meters) in the 
department of Sacatapequez. 


Rivers. 

The principal rivers of Guatemala are the following: 

I. Emptying into the Gulf of Mexico: 

The Usumacinta river, formed by the junction of the Rio Ne¬ 
gro, also called "de las Salinas," and the Pasion river; the Cuilco 
and the Salequa rivers which, by their junction in Mexican 
territory, form the Tabasco river. 

II. Emptying into the Gulf of Honduras: 

The Rio Hondo and the Belice, the Sarstoon, the Dulce, and 
the Motagua rivers. 

III. Emptying into the Izabal lake: 

The Polochic river. 

IV. Emptying into the Pacific Ocean: 

The Rio de Paz, the river called “de los Esclavos,’’ and the 


GUATEMALA. 


r 

5 


Michatoya, the Guacalate, the Coyelate, the Patulul, the Nagua- 
late, the Samala, the Tilapa, the Naranjo, and the Suchiate rivers. 

The following rivers are navigable for small craft: The Usuma- 
cinta; the Negro, from a place near the salt works, called Los 
Nueve Cerros, to the mouth; the Pasion river, from the place of 
its junction with the Chajmaik river to its mouth; the Sarstoon, 
from the Gracias a Dios Rapids to its mouth; the Polochic, from 
Panzos to its mouth; the Dulce through the whole of its course; 
the Motagua, from Gualan to its mouth; and the Michatoya, from 
its junction with the Maria Linda river to its mouth. 

Regular steamship navigation is established on the Polochic 
and the Dulce rivers. 

Lakes. 

The hydrographic system of Guatemala includes a great num¬ 
ber of lakes, the most important of which are the following: 

The Peten, the Izabal, and the Amatitlan lakes in the depart¬ 
ments of their respective names; 

The Atitlan lake in the department of Solola; 

The Ayarza lake in the department of Jalapa; 

The Giiija lake, between the department of Jutiapa in Guate¬ 
mala and the department of Santa Ana in the Republic of Salva¬ 
dor. 

Lake Peten is 48 kilometers long by 10 kilometers wide. 

Lake Atitlan is 25 kilometers long by 11 wide. 

Lake Amatitlan is 12 kilometers long by 4 wide. 

Lake Ayarza is about circular; its diameter is 12 kilometers. 

Lake Giiija is 25 kilometers long by 9 wide. 

All these lakes are navigable. 

Regular steamship navigation is established on the Atitlan 
and the Izabal lakes. 

Ports. 

The principal ports of Guatemala on the Atlantic side are: 

Livingston, at the mouth of the River Dulce, on the Gulf of 
Amatique, 15 0 48' north latitude, and 88° 46' longitude west of 
Greenwich. 

Puerto Barrios, on the same Gidf, some distance east of Liv¬ 
ingston, deemed to be one of the most important ports of the 




6 


GUATEMALA. 


Republic, if not the most important of all, because of its having- 
been chosen as the terminal point on the Atlantic side of the In- 
teroceanic Guatemalan Railroad. 

Livingston and Puerto Barrios are ports of entry and delivery 
(puertos mayores) and a large amount of trade is carried on 
through them. 

The port of Santo Tomas, situated on the southern extreme of 
the Gulf of Amatique, 15 0 38' 3" north latitude and 88° 35' 6" 
longitude west of Greenwich, although a good one, is not a port 
of entry. It belongs to the class of ports which the Guatemalan 
law calls puertos menores , or minor or secondary ports, and only 
certain articles can be imported or exported through them. For 
ail commercial purposes Santo Tomas depends upon the Puerto 
Barrios Custom House. 

The most important ports on the Pacific side are the following: 

San Jose, connected with the Capital of the Republic by means 
of a railroad of no more than 74.5 miles, and situated 13 0 56^ 
north latitude and 90° 42' longitude west of Greenwich. 

Champerico, farther north, 14 0 17' north latitude and 91 0 57' 
longitude west of Greenwich. 

Ocos, at a short distance southwest of Champerico. 

These three ports are ports of entry and delivery, are pro¬ 
vided with extensive iron piers, and are centers of an active com¬ 
merce. 

On the Izabal lake there is the port of Izabal, 15 0 24' north lat¬ 
itude and 91 0 31' longitude west of Greenwich. 

On the rivers the most important ports are Gualan on the Mo- 
tagua, and Panzos on the Polochic. 

Climate and Seasons. 

Guatemala’s climate is quite diversified, even within 
the limits of one district; but speaking generally it can be said 
that Guatemala is divided into three distinct zones. 

The coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific form the belt known by 
the name of tierra calientc (torrid or hot zone). 

The interior table lands, at an altitude of 2,000 to 5,000 feet 
above sea level, form the tierra templada (temperate zone), where 
the climate is very pleasant. 


GUATEMALA. 


7 


The high districts, called Los Altos , where the elevation is more 
than 5,000 feet, such as Quezaltenango, Totonicapam, and San 
Marcos, form what is denominated the ticrra fria (cold zone), 
where the climate is cold but healthy. 

The year is divided into two seasons: The rainy season, com¬ 
monly called invierno (winter), and the dry season, also called 
verano (summer). 

The rainy season lasts from May to October in the interior 
of the country, but on the coast it sometimes lasts until De¬ 
cember. 

The coldest months are December and January, and the hottest 
are March and April. 

Salubrity. 

It can be said without exaggeration that the climate of this 
Republic is one of the healthiest known. Excepting the coast 
districts, where the heat is great, the entire country enjoys a tem¬ 
perature the whole year corresponding to the spring of Southern 
Europe. The average temperature for the year is about 72 0 Fah¬ 
renheit. 

There is no snow except in December and January (and not 
every year) in the highest points of the Republic. On the coast 
the refreshing sea breezes which regularly blow for some hours 
every day mitigate the extreme heat and render the climate bear¬ 
able. The temperature of the Capital is delightful, as is that of 
nearly all the other important towns. The climate of Antigua 
has no superior in the world. 

No peculiar climatic diseases exist in Guatemala, and for many 
years no plague or epidemic has afflicted her territory. • As vac¬ 
cination is compulsory, as well as gratuitous, smallpox has lost its 
terrors. The Government is always vigilant, and takes all sani¬ 
tary precautions which are known to science. 


Chapter II. 


POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS.— 
PRINCIPAL CITIES.—ALTITUDES.—DISTANCES. 

The Republic of Guatemala is divided into twenty-two prov¬ 
inces called dopartamentos. 

Each dcpartamenio is subdivided into a number of municipal 
districts called municipios. The total number of these municipios 
is three hundred and thirty-one. 

For electoral purposes the whole country is divided into thirty- 
eight electoral districts (distritos elcctorcilcs) , the limits of which 
are marked by law. 

At the head of each departamento there is an officer, appointed 
by the President of the Republic, who exercises the executive au¬ 
thority and is called Jcfe Politico. 

At the head of each municipio there is an officer called Alcalde, 
who exercises substantially the same functions as the mayor in 
the cities and towns of the United States of America. Sometimes 
these Alcaldes are two and even three in number, according to 
the importance of the municipios. Then they are called “Alcalde 
Primero” (First Alcalde), “Alcalde Segundo” (Second Alcalde), 
or “Alcalde Tercero” (Third Alcalde), as the case may be. The 
Alcaldes are assisted in the administration of the government of 
the municipio by a municipal council called municipalidad or 
Ayiintamienlo, consisting of a certain number of aldermen called 
Regidores. 

Both Alcaldes and Regidores are elected by the people. 

The centers of population are called in Guatemala, according to 
their importance, ciudadcs, or cities proper; pueblos, or towns; 
and aldcas, or villages. 

The following table shows the names of the departments, ar- 
































View of the City of Quezaltenango 





GUATEMALA. 


9 


ranged in accordance with their respective geographical position; 
their chief towns, and the population of the latter, with their 
altitude above the level of the sea. 


Departments. Chief Towns. Population of 

Chief This. 

Northern Departments— 


Izabal 

Baja Verapaz 

Alta Verapaz 

El Peten 

El Quiche 

Livingston 

Salama 

Coban 

Flores 

Santa Cruz 

1,978 

10,608 

22,792 

1,671 

11,914 

Central Departments— 

Guatemala 

Sacatepequez 

Chimaltenango 

Guatemala 

Antigua 

Chimaltenango 

7T527 

10.150 

3,749 

Southern Departments— 

Escuintla 

Amatitlan 

Santa Rosa 

Escuintla 

Amatitlan 

Cuajiniquilapa 

12,3a? 

8,408 

3,062 

Eastern Departments— 

Jutiapa 

Jala pa 

Chiquimula 

Zacapa 

Jutiapa 

Jalapa 

Chiquimula 

Zacapa 

11,023 

12,246 

12,562 

11,964 

Western Departments— 

Huehuetenango 

Totonicapam 

San Marcos 
Quezaltenango 
Retalhuleu 
Suchitepequez 

Solola 

Huehuetenango 

Totonicapam 

San Marcos 
Quezaltenango 
Retalhuleu 
Mazatenango 

Solola 

10,279 

23.849 

6,036 

21.437 

6,327 

6,970 

7,627 


Principal Cities 


Altitude of 
Chief This. 


2,827 feet. 
4,047 feet. 

482 feet. 
5,543 feet. 


4,854 feet. 
4,464 feet. 
5,666 feet. 


1,269 feet. 
3,614 feet. 
3,254 feet. 


2,847 feet. 
4,625 feet. 
1,167 feet. 
511 feet. 


7,118 feet. 
7,967 feet. 
7,216 feet. 
7,419 feet. 

977 feet. 
1,095 feet. 
5,940 feet. 


The principal city of the Republic is the city of Guatemala, the 
Capital of the nation and the seat of government. 

It was built in 1776, after the destruction of Antigua Guate¬ 
mala, the old capital, on the admirable site which it still 
occupies. It is surrounded by green hills, pastures, sugar and 
coffee plantations; it is blessed with a temperate and most health¬ 
ful climate and presents in every respect the most charming ap¬ 
pearance. When seen from the heights of Cerro del Carmen the 
eye wanders over a lovely landscape reaching from the Guarda de 



10 


GUATEMALA. 


Buena Vista to a vast horizon, bounded on the south by a range 
of the Andes, while in the background is seen the colossal outline 
of the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego, whose craters are con¬ 
stantly crowned with ever-changing clouds. 

The citv covers a large area and is well built. Many of the 
houses are elegant and spacious, surrounded by courts and gar¬ 
dens adorned with fountains, objects of art, and tasteful orna¬ 
ments. The streets are wide, straight, lined with fine sidewalks,, 
and lighted by electricity. 

Its principal public buildings are the Palace of the Executive,, 
the City Hall, the Court House, the Post and Telegraph Office, 
the Artillery Barracks, the Custom House and Revenue Build¬ 
ing, the Liquor and Tobacco Bureau, the National Theatre, the 
College of Medicine and Pharmacy, the University, the 
School of Arts and Trades, the Polytechnic School, a. 
number of national and private schools and colleges,, 
the general and military hospitals, the palace of the 
Archbishop, and several magnificent and richly decorated 
churches, such as the Cathedral, San Francisco, Santo Domingo,. 
Santa Catalina, La Merced, La Recoleccion, and Santa Teresa. 
There are scattered through the city public gardens, military bar¬ 
racks, large hotels, printing establishments, etc. The city has a 
Penitentiary, two forts, various charitable institutions, numerous- 
schools and some lines of street cars. As the city is connected di- * 
rectly with the Port of San Jose by means of a railroad, commu¬ 
nication is easy and provisions can be obtained abundantly and 
cheaply. The telephone is also in operation, and the mail, as well 
as the telegraph system is equal to that of the most civilized 
countries. 

The city of Quezaltenango, the chief town of the department of 
its name, is situated about 120 miles from the Capital and about 
75 miles from Champerico, the nearest port on the Pacific Occam 
It is the second city of the Republic in size and economical im¬ 
portance. 

The city of Chiquimula comes afterwards. It is the center of 
commerce for the eastern departments. Its most important 
buildings are the Institute for young men and the Government 
House. 


GUATEMALA. 


11 


The city of Antigua, or Antigua Guatemala, in the department 
of Sacatepequez, deserves special mention. It was founded in 
x 543 by Alonso Maldonado, is situated in a fertile valley, sur¬ 
rounded by picturesque hills, and bounded on the south by the 
volcano Agua, and on the southwest by the volcano Fuego. 

The city is provided with four abundant springs, the water of 
which is medicinal and enjoys great reputation. In the 
neighborhood other thermal and mineral waters of different 
kinds and degrees of temperature are found, among which 
those of Medina, San Andres, Ceballos, San Lorenzo del Tejar,. 
and the historical spring of Almolonga may be specially men¬ 
tioned. The climate being temperate, even, healthy, and agree¬ 
able, is one of the best in the world. 

Escuintici, the principal city of the department of its name, is 
located hall way between the Capital and the port of San Jose, 
on the line of the Central Railroad. It is the center of an exten¬ 
sive commercial movement, and has good hotels and apartment 
houses, well patronized every year, from December to March, by 
numerous families, who, following an old custom, come from dif¬ 
ferent parts of the Republic to pass the season. 

Retalhuleu, the chief town of the department of its name, is r 
owing to its position, one of the most important cities of the Re¬ 
public. A railroad and a national highway bring it in direct com¬ 
munication with the sea shore, where the Government has a mili¬ 
tary post, a custom house, large warehouses, and everv facility 
for the development of commerce. 

POPULATION. 

The census of the Republic, taken on the 26th of February, 
1893, gave 1,364,678 inhabitants as the total population of the 
Republic. It is thought, however, that these figures may be 
safely augmented ten per cent, because of the number of people 
who failed to register or to otherwise respond to the inquiries of 
the census enumerators, and because of the increase by propa¬ 
gation and immigration which has naturally taken place between 
February, 1893, and the present date. If this opinion is correct 
the total population is 1,501,145. 

Out of the 1,364,678 inhabitants given by the census, 11,331 


12 


GUATEMALA. 


were aliens. Of the latter 1,303 were citizens of the United 
States of America. 

According to sex, the population of Guatemala is divided as 
follows: 

Men, 677,472; women, 687,206. 

The population by departments is as follows: 

Guatemala, 147,840; Sacatepequez, 42,713; Chimaltenango, 
57 , I 77 ; Amatitlan, 35,387; Escuintla, 32,001; Santa Rosa, 47,293; 
Solola, 70,039; Totonicapam, 89,338; Quezaltenango, 111,138; 
Suchitepequez, 37,796; Retalhuleu, 27,777; San Marcos, 89,332; 
Huehuetenango, 117,127; Quiche, 92,753; Baja Verapaz, 54,816; 
Alta Verapaz, 100,759; Peten, 6,752; Izabal, 7,401; Zacapa, 47,- 
362; Chiquimula, 63,746; Jalapa, 33,285 ;Jutiapa, 52,856; total, 1,- 
364,678. 



View of Guatemala City 










Chapter III. 


GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 
THE COUNTRY.—BILL OF RIGHTS.—LEGISLA¬ 
TION. 

The Government of Guatemala is republican, democratic, and 
representative. Its powers are vested in three co-ordinate 
branches, respectively called Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 

The legislative power is vested in a body called “National As¬ 
sembly” (Asamblca National ), whose members, called Diputados 
(Ideputies), number one for each 20,000 inhabitants, or any frac¬ 
tion of this sum exceeding 10,000, and are directly elected by the 
people. Their term of office is four years. 

The rights and powers of this Assembly are virtually the same 
as the rights and powers of all other congresses or legislative 
bodies in the civilized world. 

The executive power is vested in a President, directly elected 
by the people. He serves for six years, is responsible for his acts 
to the Assembly, and is head of the army. The President can¬ 
not be re-elected until after an interval of at least one term. 

The President is assisted in the transaction of public business 
by six Secretaries of State, each having under his charge a sep¬ 
arate department, called Ministerio. These are called Depart¬ 
ments of Gobernacion y Justicia (Government and Justice); Re- 
laciones Exteriores (Foreign Relations); Instruccion Publica 
(Public Instruction); Fomento (Promotion of Public Welfare); 
Placienda y Credito Publico (Finance and Public Credit); and 
Guerra (War). 

There is also an advisory board called “Consejo de Estado" 
(Council of State), which consists of nine members, five elected by 
the Assembly and four appointed by the President. 




*4 


GUATEMALA. 


The law provides the cases in which the opinion of this council 
must be consulted. 

The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court (Corte Su- 
prema de Justicia), consisting of a Chief Justice and four Asso¬ 
ciate Justices, elected by the people; six Courts of Appeals (Salas 
de Apelaciones), each one consisting of a Chief Justice and two 
Associate Justices, also elected by the people; and twenty-nine 
courts (Juzgados de Primera Instancia), each consisting of one 
judge appointed by the President out of three nominated by the 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. 

Bill of Rights. 

The Constitution provides that the authorities shall protect the 
people in the full enjoyment of all essential rights. It guarantees 
individual liberty, liberty of conscience, equality before the law, 
absolute security of person, honor, and property, freedom of 
travel, unrestrained liberty to practice all professions and trades, 
and to engage in honorable occupations and industries of all kinds, 
the rights of petition and association, the freedom of expression 
of thought, whether verbally or through the press, without pre¬ 
vious censorship, free education, and compensation for all ser¬ 
vice not made gratuitous by law. 

The law requires that all persons arrested shall be examined 
within forty-eight hours after their arrest. The writ of habeas 
corpus is recognized. No person can be compelled to testify 
against himself, his w r ife, children, brothers, father, mother, or 
other ancestors, or be tried by a court especially created for that 
purpose. 

The domicile, private papers and personal correspondence of 
all inhabitants are inviolable. 

Puplic instruction supported by the Government is secular and 
gratuitous. 

Primary instruction is obligatory. 

There is no imprisonment for debts. 

Births, marriages and deaths, as well as changes of nationality 
or domicile, and all acts affecting the status of a person, have to 
be recorded at an office called Registro del Estado Civil. 


GUATEMALA. 


15 


An accurate description of each piece of real estate, and all acts 
which may affect the ownership of the same, as sales, leases, 
mortgages, conveyances, and transfers of all classes, have also to 
be recorded at another office Tailed Registro de la Propiedad 
Inmueble. 

Marriage is absolutely a civil contract, but the 'contracting 
parties, are left at liberty to solemnize it afterwards religiously. 

Absolute divorce can be secured in certain cases and under cer¬ 
tain circumstances enumerated by law. 

The Civil Code (Codigo Civil), in force since the 8th of Septem¬ 
ber, 1877, and divided into the three general headings of Persons, 
Things or Property, and Obligations and Contracts, covers all 
matters of private municipal law in the country. 

The Code of Civil Commerce (Codigo de Procedimientos 
Civiles), as indicated by its title, regulates the proceedings before 
the civil courts. 

The Code of Commerce (Codigo de Comercio), promulgated 
on the 20th of July, 1877, regulates all matters relating to com¬ 
merce and commercial transactions. This code is supplemented 
by a Law of Procedure (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Mercantil), pro¬ 
mulgated on the same date, which regulates judicial proceedings 
in commercial cases. 

The Penal Code (Codigo Penal) was promulgated on the 15th 
of February, 1889. The penalty of death does not exist in Guate¬ 
mala, nor can imprisonment exceed fifteen years. 

The Fiscal Code (Codigo Fiscal) regulates all matters concern¬ 
ing the treasury, its organization, the collection and disbursement 
of public moneys, the coins, and coinage; the public lands, mines 
and mining interests, etc., etc. This code has been in force since 
the 15th of September, 1881. 


Chapter IV. 


ALIEN RESIDENTS.—THEIR RIGHTS AND DUTIES.— 
ALIEN LAW.—LAW OF FOREIGN CORPORATIONS. 

Article 13 of the Constitution of Guatemala reads as follows: 

“Art. 13. Aliens are strictly bound from the moment of their 
arrival in the territory of the Republic to respect its authority and 
comply with its laws. They also acquire the right of being pro¬ 
tected. 

Under this broad provision no difference exists in Guatemala 
between aliens and Guatemalan citizens. All are equal and all 
enjoy in the same degree, and to the same extent, all rights and 
franchises which are not exclusively of political character. 

Aliens, as well as Guatemalan citizens, are entitled to the same 
protection of their person and property, the same inviolability of 
their domicile, correspondence, and private papers, the same free¬ 
dom of expression of their ideas, whether verbally or through the 
press, the same religious liberty, the same qualifications to ac¬ 
quire, to hold, and to convey property, whether real or personal, 
and the same facilities to resort to the courts or constituted au¬ 
thorities to seek redress or have justice administered to them. 

Foreign companies, organized according to the laws of their 
respective countries, are allowed to do business in Guatemala, 
and enjoy the same rights as are granted the Guatemalan com¬ 
panies. 

The text in full of the Alien Law, or Ley dc Extranjcria, pro¬ 
mulgated in Guatemala on the "th of May, 1894, such as pub¬ 
lished in “Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United 
States, in 1896,” page 317, is as follows: 




GUATEMALA. 


17 


ALIEN LAW.—TITLE 1. 

Sole Chapter.—Who are Foreigners. 

Article i. For the effects of this law the following persons are 
to be considered foreigners: 

Persons born outside of Guatemalan territory, whose parents 
are not Guatemalans. 

Legitimate children born outside of Guatemala of a foreign 
father and a Guatemalan mother. 

Guatemalans who have forfeited their citizenship. 

Those born outside of Guatemala of parents who have forfeited 
their citizenship. 

A Guatemalan woman who is married to a foreigner and domi¬ 
ciled outside of Guatemala. 

Children of diplomatic ministers, although born in Guatemalan 
territory 

Art. 2. National vessels shall be considered as Guatemalan ter¬ 
ritory in determining the nationality of those born on board 
thereof. 

Art. 3. The following persons shall be considered as natural¬ 
ized Guatemalans: 

1. Spanish Americans domiciled in the Republic who have not 
reserved their citizenship in the manner provided by article 87 of 
this act, in accordance with paragraph 1, article 7, of the Consti¬ 
tution of the Republic. 

2. Other foreigners who have received certificates of naturali¬ 
zation according to the provisions of this decree, and those of the 
Constitution contained in article 7, paragraph 3, of that instru¬ 
ment. 

Central Americans who make known to the authorities their 
desire to become naturalized in the manner provided by article 87 
of this decree shall be considered as native Guatemalans accord¬ 
ing to article 6 of the Constitution. 

Art. 4. A Guatemalan who has forfeited his citizenship by be¬ 
coming naturalized in a foreign country (the same as the divorced 
wife of a foreigner, both residing outside of Guatemala), may re¬ 
gain his citizenship by making application, at any time, by re- 





18 


GUATEMALA. 


nouncing the protection of the foreign flag and by having his de¬ 
claration and renunciation recorded in the Civil Register. 

The Government nevertheless reserves the privilege of de¬ 
ciding such cases as it may think proper. 

Art. 5. The application referred to in the foregoing article 
must be made to the minister of foreign relations of the Republic, 
or to the diplomatic or consular agent of Guatemala in the place 
where the applicant resides. 

Art. 6. Legitimate or illegitimate children of a Guatemalan 
father, born or living in a foreign country, when, according to the 
laws of the country of their birth, they have the privilege of 
choosing their citizenship, and elect to become Guatemalans, 
must inform the diplomatic or consular agent of Guatemala 
within one year from the day on which they become of age, or 
from that of their emancipation, whether they desire to become 
Guatemalan citizens, and the said diplomatic or consular officer 
shall in this, as in the former case, record it in the register of the 
legation or consulate under his charge, and report the fact imme¬ 
diately to the minister of foreign relations of the Republic. 

Art. 7. A Guatemalan who has entered the military service 
of a foreign country, or who has accepted a public office, or who 
has any supplementary jurisdiction without permission from the 
Government of Guatemala, shall be considered as a foreigner, 
but he may recover his Guatemalan citizenship by complying 
with the requirements of articles 4 and 5. 

Art. 8. A Guatemalan naturalized in another country shall, on 
returning to Guatemala, be subject to the obligations of his orig¬ 
inal citizenship; and the allegation that he has been naturalized in 
another country shall not exempt him from his obligations as a 
citizen of Guatemala. 

TITLE II. 

Chapter /.—Classification of Foreigners. 

Art. 9. Foreigners in Guatemala may be: (1) Residents or 
domiciled persons; (2) Non-residents or sojourners, and (3) im¬ 
migrants. 

Art. 10. Foreigners may enter, reside, and settle freely in any 
part of the territory of Guatemala. 


GUATEMALA. 


19 


Art. it. Civil rights are independent of citizenship. 

Art. 12. The law recognizes no difference between a Guate¬ 
malan and a foreigner, as regards the acquisition and enjoyment 
of civil rights. 

Art. 13. No inhabitant of Guatemala can be exempted from the 
fulfillment of obligations contracted in the Republic according to 
its laws. 

Art. 14. Both Guatemalans and foreigners residing in Guate¬ 
mala, or wherever they may be found, may be summoned to 
appear before the courts of the Republic for the performance of 
contracts concluded by them (even in a foreign country) in mat¬ 
ters in which the laws of Guatemala permit them to contract. 

Art. 15. Although a foreigner be absent from the country he 
may be summoned to answer before its courts. 

I. When an action is brought concerning property situated in 
Guatemala. 

II. When a civil action is brought on account of any crime or 
misdemeanor committed by a foreigner in Guatemala. 

III. When an obligation is concerned which has been con¬ 
tracted by a foreigner, in which it is stipulated that the courts of 
the Republic are to decide disputes relative thereto. 

Art. 16. Whenever an obligation is concerned which has been 
contracted in a foreign country, the laws of the country in which 
it was contracted shall always serve for the judgment of the con¬ 
tract, so far as it is not prohibited by the laws of the Republic. 
The laws of Guatemala shall be paramount only when the con¬ 
tracting parties submit to them. 

Art. 17. A Guatemalan woman married to a foreigner, or a for¬ 
eign woman married to a Guatemalan, take the nationality of 
their respective husbands. If they become widows, the former re¬ 
covers and the latter retains her Guatemalan nationality, provided 
they reside in the Republic. 

Art. 18. The fulfillment of obligations contracted in a foreign 
country between foreigners not domiciled cannot be demanded 
in Guatemala, unless they are willing to abide by the decision of 
the courts of the Republic. 

Art. 19. A change of nationality or citizenship shall have no 
retroactive effect. 



20 


GUATEMALA. 


Chapter II.—Inhabitants and Non-Residents. 

Art. 20. The domicile of a person is the place where he usually 
resides; if he has no customary place of residence it is his princi¬ 
pal place of business; if he has neither his domicile is considered 
to be the place where he is found. 

Art. 21. The domicile of a minor child, not emancipated, is 
that of the person under whose guardianship he is. 

Art. 22. The domicile of a minor child who is not under par¬ 
ental authority, and of a person of full age who is incapacitated, is 
that of his guardian. 

Art. 23. The domicile of a married woman, if she is not separ¬ 
ated from her husband, is his domicile; if she is separated from 
him she is subject to the provisions of article 20. 

Art. 24. Those who serve a person and live in his house, 
whether minors or of age, have the same domicile as the person 
whom they serve; but if they are minors and own property that 
is in charge of a guardian, their domicile shall be that of their 
guardian, so far as their property is concerned. 

Art. 25. The domicile of those who are serving out a sentence 
is the place where they are serving it, as regards their judicial re¬ 
lations subsequent to the sentence; as to their previous relations, 
they shall retain their last domicile. Those who are simply con¬ 
demned to exile shall retain their former domicile. 

Art. 26. The wife and children of a person sentenced to ban¬ 
ishment, who do not accompany him to his place of exile, shall 
not have as their domicile that of the husband and father, but 
their own, according to the provisions of the foregoing articles. 

Art. 27. The domicile of corporations, associations, and es¬ 
tablishments recognized by law is the place where their principal 
office is situated, subject to the provisions of their statutes or by¬ 
laws, provided that the domicile therein designated is within the 
territory thereunto subject. 

Art. 28. When there are circumstances which constitute a civil 
domicile, as regards the same person in several localities, it is to 
be understood that such oerson has his domicile in all the local¬ 
ities concerned; but if things are concerned which imply special 
relation to one of the said localities, that locality alone shall, so far 
as such cases are concerned, be the civil domicile of the person. 








GUATEMALA. 


21 


Art. 29. A person is not presumed to have the intention of re¬ 
maining. and does not, therefore, acquire civil domicile in a place 
from the mere fact of his having dwelt there for some time in his 
own house, or in that of another, if he has a domestic establish¬ 
ment elsewhere, or if it appears, from any other circumstance, 
that his residence is accidental, like that of a traveler, that of a 
person engaged in the performance of a temporary commission, 
or that of one doing business as a traveling vendor or commercial 
traveler. 

Art. 30. No person shall prevent the inhabitants of any town 
from changing their residence. 

Art. 31. The inhabitants of any place, be they native or foreign 
born, shall be liable to the charges and municipal taxes of their 
place of residence. 

Art. 32. A transient person is one who is stopping temporarily 
in a place. 

Art. 33. Transient persons shall not enjoy the rights or be sub¬ 
ject to the charges to which residents are subject. 

Art. 34. Foreigners who are not domiciled, and whose personal 
identity, together with the object of their being in the country, 
is not declared within three months, shall be considered as immi¬ 
grants. 

TITLE III. 

Sole Chapter.—Of Registration and its Effects. 

Art. 35. The registration of foreigners consists of the inscrip¬ 
tion of their names and nationality in a book kept for that pur¬ 
pose at the ministry of foreign relations of the Republic. 

Art. 36. A foreigner who desires to be registered, and who is at 
the Capital of the Republic, must make application to the min¬ 
istry of foreign relations or to the political chief of the proper de¬ 
partment, furnishing evidence of his nationality, together with at 
least one of the documents hereinafter named: 

I. A certificate from the diplomatic agent or from a consular 
officer accredited in the Republic, stating that the interested party 
is a native of the country represented by the aforesaid diplomatic 
agent or consular officer. 







22 


GUATEMALA. 


II. The passport with which the applicant has entered the Re¬ 
public, authenticated in due form. 

III. His certificate of naturalization, authenticated likewise; 
and only when sufficient evidence shall be presented of its de¬ 
struction or loss, or to the effect that this document is not neces¬ 
sary according to the law of the country in which it should have 
been issued, shall other evidence of equal value be accepted to 
the effect that the interested party has legally obtained his alleged 
naturalization. 

Art. 37. Nevertheless, in case of the party being placed on 
trial, the civil or executive authorities, or any person who is in¬ 
terested, may impugn those documents and prove their spurious¬ 
ness in case of necessity. 

Art. 38. The evidence of the applicant's nationality, together 
with his personal description, having been sent to the ministry of 
foreign relations by the proper officer, it shall there be registered 
and a certificate to that effect shall be given to the foreigner on 
payment by him of one dollar, which shall be the sole registration 
fee. 

Art. 39. Registration constitutes merely a legal presumption 
that the foreigner’s nationality is that which he claims, and proof 
to the contrary may be presented. 

Art. 40. Registration may be proved by the certificate thereof, 
signed and issued by the minister of foreign relations, who alone 
has authority to sign and issue such certificates. 

Art. 41. No magistrate or public officer shall recognize a per¬ 
son as being of any particular foreign nationality unless such per¬ 
son shall present his certificate of registration. 

Art. 42. A foreigner shall have the following rights: 

I. 1 he right to appeal to the treaties and conventions existing 
between Guatemala and his own nation. 

II. The right to apply to his country for diplomatic protection 
in accordance with the provisions of this decree. 

III. The benefit of reciprocity. 

TITLE IV. 

Sole Chapter.—Political Status of Foreigners. 

Art. 43. Foreigners residing in Guatemala as domiciled per¬ 
sons or sojourners (transients) shall have their rights guaranteed* 





GUATEMALA. 


23 


To the security and protection of their persons, property, 
dwelling, and correspondence in the same manner as native citi¬ 
zens. 

To express and publish their views, subject to the limitations 
fixed by law, both by word of mouth and in writing. They may, 
moreover, be managers, owners, or responsible representatives of 
newspapers or periodicals of any kind whatever. They shall, 
however, in all cases, conform to the laws of the countrv, just as 
native citizens are required to do, and shall not be at liberty to ap¬ 
peal to diplomatic protection on account of the responsibilities 
that they may incur. 

To address written petitions to the public authorities, just as is 
done by native Guatemalans, to the authorities and their agents. 

To the exercise of their religious worship according to the 
Constitution, and with the limitations of universal morality and 
those established by the police regulations. 

To have justice administered to them by the courts and author¬ 
ities in such cases and in such ways as are provided for by the 
laws which define the competency of the said courts and author¬ 
ities. 

Art. 44. Inasmuch as these privileges are attributes of (Guate¬ 
malan! nationality, no foreigner shall be a voter or be eligible to 
any public office whose incumbent is chosen by the popular vote; 
exercise judicial functions or those auxiliary thereto; hold any 
canonically conferred ecclesiastical office without having been 
specially authorized to do so by the Guatemalan Government, it 
being understood that when a foreigner makes such an applica¬ 
tion, and it is granted by the Government, such foreigner re¬ 
nounces the protection of his country, so far as the discharge of 
the duties of his office are concerned. 

Art. 45. They shall not be at liberty to practice professions 
for which a professional title is required without first having gone 
through the course of study required by the law concerning pub¬ 
lic instruction or by the treaties; the Government may, however, 
freely authorize foreigners to fill positions as professors in univer¬ 
sities and as teachers in high schools, as well as to practice pro¬ 
fessions not yet established in the Republic, when the propriety 






24 


GUATEMALA. 


of so doing is manifest owing to the excellent records and high 
attainments of such foreigners. 

Art. 46. In order to determine the obligations of foreigners 
with respect to military service, the following is to be borne in 
mind: That all persons are to be held to the strict performance 
of such service who, having a right on attaining their majority 
to make choice of a foreign nationality, shall fail to exhibit to the 
civil or military authorities of the Republic documents showing 
that they have fulfilled said obligation in the country of their 
choice (option), or that they have been exempted therefrom on 
account of some cause that, according to the Guatemalan law, is 
sufficient. 


TITLE V. 

Chapter I.—Of the Civil Status of Foreigners. 

Art. 47. Foreigners shall enjoy in Guatemala all the civil rights 
that the laws grant to Guatemalans. 

Corporations, establishments, and associations recognized by 
law shall be considered as legal persons for the exercise of said 
rights. 

Art. 48. The laws of Guatemala are binding upon all who are 
in Guatemalan territory, without distinction of nationality. The 
status and capacity of persons, together with their family rela¬ 
tions, shall be regulated by the laws of the nation to which they 
belong. 

Art. 49. In no case shall the laws, contracts, or sentences of a 
foreign country, or arrangements and private agreements annul 
the prohibitory laws of the Republic which relate to persons, 
property or contracts, or those which in anywise relate to public 
order and good morals. 

Art. 50. Foreign persons shall enjoy all family rights; they 
may, consequently, constitute a family and contract marriage in 
Guatemala with other foreigners or with natives. 

Chapter II.—Of Marriages. 

Art. 51. A marriage contracted between two foreigners, out- 





GUATEMALA. 


25 


side of Guatemalan territory, that is valid according to the laws 
of the country in which it was contracted, shall be duly valid in 
Guatemala. 

Art. 52. Marriages are valid when contracted between for¬ 
eigners or between a foreigner and a Guatemalan, both of whom 
reside in the country, according to the laws of their respective na¬ 
tions. Consequently, such marriages shall have the civil effects 
that are recognized by this law in respect to marriages contracted 
by natives of the same country, according to the civil code. 

Art. 53. A marriage contracted in a foreign country between 
Guatemalans, or between a Guatemalan and a foreign woman, or 
between a foreigner and a Guatemalan woman, shall likewise 
have the proper civil effects in the national territory if it is shown 
that it was solemnized in the form and in compliance with the re¬ 
quirements established by law in the locality in which it took 
place, and that the Guatemalan has not violated the provisions of 
the civil code relative to the capacity to contract marriage and to 
the consent of the ascendants or of the person from whom it is 
proper to obtain it. 

Art. 54. In urgent cases, in which it is impossible to apply to 
the authorities of the Republic, consent may be given by the min¬ 
ister or consul residing in the place where the marriage is to take 
place, or by the nearest one, if there is none in the said place, the 
minister always to be preferred to the consul. 

Art. 55. In case of danger of speedy death in a place where 
there is no minister or consul, the marriage shall be valid pro¬ 
vided it be satisfactorily shown that such danger existed, and that 
there was no minister or consul in the place. 

* Art. 56. For the contracting of marriage the law of the nation 
of the foreigners who are about to contract it shall determine the 
age at which this can be done by the persons who are to give their 
consent, and shall define the impediments that may bar it. 

Art. 57. In all cases the prohibitory provisions shall be ob¬ 
served, which, according to Guatemalan law, are a bar to the 
solemnization of the marriage, for reasons of morality or public 
order, on account of the relationship or the legal dissolution of 
previous bonds. 

Art. 58. The disqualifications recognized in some countries on 




26 


GUATEMALA. 


account of political proscription or trial for and conviction of 
crime shall not be considered as impediments to marriage. 

Art. 59. When the contracting parties are foreigners and have 
not resided in Guatemala for two years they shall be required to 
show, by a certificate of the competent officer, according to the 
laws of their country, duly authenticated, and with all the requi¬ 
sites which, according to Guatemalan law, are necessary to make 
it authentic and valid, that notice of the marriage which they pro¬ 
pose to contract has been published, with all the necessary for¬ 
malities, in the country in which they had their domicile or resi¬ 
dence during the year previous to their coming to Guatemala. 
They shall in all cases show, by means of an authentic document, 
that they are at liberty to contract marriages. 

Art. 60. A foreigner who has been legally divorced in his own 
country may lawfully contract a new civil marriage in Guatemala, 
according to decree No. 484. 

Art. 61. A marriage contracted outside of Guatemala by for¬ 
eigners according to the laws of their nation shall have, in Guate¬ 
mala, all the effects of a lawful marriage. 

Art. 62. A marriage contracted in a foreign country by a Guate¬ 
malan and a foreign woman,or vice versa, shall be valid in Guate¬ 
mala, provided that in its solemnization the laws were observed 
that are established in the country in which it took place for regu¬ 
lating the external forms of the contract, and provided that the 
contracting parties had a right to contract marriage according 
to the laws of Guatemala. 

Art. 63. A marriage solemnized in a foreign country may be 
proved by any means of proof, if, in the country in which it was 
solemnized, the registration of marriages is not required by law. 

Art. 64. The marriages of foreigners must be recorded in the 
civil register of the proper municipality when the contracting 
parties or their descendants remove to Guatemala. 

Art. 65. Sentences shall likewise be recorded whereby mar¬ 
riages are declared to be null and void, or married persons are de¬ 
clared to be divorced. 

Art. 66. The laws of the country of the married persons shall 
determine their respective capacity for such civil acts as are con¬ 
sequent upon marriage. 


GUATEMALA. 


27 


Art. 67. It shall be understood that the matrimonial regime, in 
default of an explicit agreement, is that which is recognized by 
the nation to which the contracting parties belong. 

Art. 68. If marriage has been contracted between a Guate¬ 
malan and a foreign woman, or between a Guatemalan woman 
and a foreigner, and no stipulation has been made by them with 
regard to their property, it shall be understood when the husband 
is a Guatemalan that he marries under the regime of common 
property, and when the wife is a Guatemalan woman that she 
marries under the regime of the common law in the country of 
her husband; and as regards the property, the fundamental law 
shall govern. 

Art. 69. The legitimacy of the children of foreigners shall be 
determined by the laws of their country, which shall also regulate 
the rights of parental authority. 

Art. 70. Foreigners in the full enjoyment of their civil rights 
may recognize their natural children, be guardians and pro¬ 
guardians, if they reside in Guatemala, of their relatives within 
the fourth civil degree, and adopt and be adopted by other for¬ 
eigners or by native Guatemalans; but whenever these acts affect 
a Guatemalan they shall be governed by Guatemalan law as re¬ 
gards all their effects. 

TITLE VI. 

Sole Chapter.—Concerning Diplomatic Intervention. 

Art. 71. The intervention of a foreign government in behalf 
of its citizens, either directly or through its diplomatic or con¬ 
sular agents, is admissible and proper only in case of denial of 
justice or of willful delay in its administration after all the usual 
means established by law have been exhausted. 

Art. 72. There is denial of justice when a judicial magistrate 
refuses to make a formal declaration in regard to the principal 
matter or any of the incidents of a case which he is trying or 
which is submitted to him for examination, or when any law has 
clearly and undoubtedly been violated, and all legal means of re¬ 
dress having been exhausted, it has not been possible to secure a 
reversal of the decision or reparation of the damage done, it be- 





28 


GUATEMALA. 


ing understood that the mere fact that a decision is not favorable 
to a claimant does not constitute a denial of justice. 

Art. 73. Delay in the administration of justice is not willful 
when the judge bases it upon some reason of law or upon some 
impediment which it is impossible for him to overcome. 

Art. 74. When a complaint is laid before the Government for 
denial of justice or on the ground of its administration being 
willfully delayed, it must be conclusively shown that those of¬ 
fenses have actually been committed in notorious violation of the 
laws of the country, and that adequate and sufficient petitions and 
arguments have been presented and that suitable means have 
been used for the purpose of securing a judicial correction of 
those offenses or lawful redress for the injury which has thereby 
been caused, and that such efforts have not effected a discontin¬ 
uance of the denial of justice, or of the willful delay in its admin¬ 
istration, and have not secured reparation for the injuries re¬ 
sulting therefrom. 

Art. 75. A foreigner bringing a civil action against the Repub¬ 
lic for injuries done him, for condemnation of property, or for 
the acts of public officers, shall, before appealing to the Govern¬ 
ment, lay his case before the proper court, that it may be tried and 
decided in the manner provided by law. 

Art. 76. In order to answer the complaint—and they shall act 
as parties to the suit in all its stages—the assistant district attor¬ 
ney in this city shall be summoned, or the collectors of internal 
revenue in those departments where there is no special representa¬ 
tives of the public exchequer. The officer or officers shall likewise 
be summoned against whom is brought the charge which orig¬ 
inated the action, and he or they may be present at all proceed¬ 
ings if they consider this to be their interest. 

Art. 77. An extract from the complaint, signed by the clerk of 
the court, in which shall be given the name, surname, and domi¬ 
cile of the plaintiff, the amount claimed, and a brief statement of 
the facts in the case, shall be immediately published in some 
newspaper printed in the chief town of the department, if any is 
printed there; and if there is none, in some of those printed in the 
nearest town. This shall be published at the expense of the plain¬ 
tiff. 









GUATEMALA. 


29- 


Art. 78. Any citizen who is not debarred from so doing by any 
legal impediment may appear as a party opposing the action 
brought, in addition to the persons mentioned in article 76 

Art. 79. In these suits the testimony of witnesses shall not be 
admitted as evidence unless it is shown that the officer who 
caused the injury or condemnation refused to give suitable docu¬ 
mentary evidence thereof, or unless it shall appear evident, from 
the nature and circumstances of the case, that it was absolutely 
impossible to obtain such documentary evidence. 

Art. 80. In order to make better provision, the court may cause 
all such probatory measures to be taken as may best conduce to 
the establishment of the truth. 

Art. 81. A plaintiff who shall have manifestly exaggerated the 
amount of the damages or injuries suffered shall be liable to the 
payment of a fine equal to 25 per cent, of the sum claimed, and 
shall also be liable to have any other civil or criminal action 
brought against him that may result from the suit. It shall be the 
duty of the judge executing the sentence to collect the fine, for 
which purpose he may resort to coercive measures. If an inde¬ 
terminate value is claimed in the suit, the plaintiff, in the cases- 
mentioned in this article, shall be required to pay a fine of not 
less than five hundred nor more than a thousand dollars. In case 
of the plaintiff’s insolvency, he shall be imprisoned one day for 
each dollar that he fails to pay. 

Art. 82. In no case shall it be claimed that the nation is under 
obligations to pay for damages, injuries, or condemnations that 
have not been done or executed by the legitimate authorities or 
iheir agents, acting in their public character. 

Art. 83. All persons not holding official positions, who shall 
order contributions or forced loans, or who shall commit acts of 
spoliation of any kind whatever, and also those who shall obey 
such orders, shall be responsible to the parties injured, both di¬ 
rectly and personally, with their property. 

Art. 84. The Government shall order the payment of such 
sums as the courts may decide to be the amount of the damages 
and injuries done, provided that a copy be presented, in due form, 
of the judicial decision declaring that the public treasury is bound 
to pay the indemnity asked for. 




30 


GUATEMALA. 


Art. 85. The nation shall assert its right to cause the responsi¬ 
ble officer to refund to the public treasury the amount that it 
shall have disbursed by reason of the condemnatory sentence 
pronounced in favor of the claimant. 

TITLE VII. 

Sole Chapter.—Naturalisation of Foreigners. 

Art. 86. In order to become naturalized, according to para¬ 
graph 3, article 7, of the Constitution of the Republic, the follow¬ 
ing shall be the proper mode of procedure: A person desiring to 
become naturalized must furnish evidence to the political chief of 
the department that he has resided in the Republic for two years; 
that his conduct has been good, and that he has an income, pro¬ 
fession, art, trade, or other proper means of earning his liveli¬ 
hood. The evidence on these points may be either documentary 
or furnished by the testimony of one or more witnesses. The 
papers in the case having been prepared, the political chief shall 
send them to the department of foreign relations, and when the 
application shall have been examined the President of the Repub¬ 
lic shall issue an order granting naturalization if the conditions 
required shall have been complied with. The order having been 
issued a copy of it shall be sent to the officer having charge of 
the Civil Register, so that he may record it, as required by law. 

Art. 87. In order to make the reservation regarding nationality 
which is mentioned in article 7 of the Constitution of the Repub¬ 
lic and the statement referred to in article 6 of that instrument, 
the interested parties shall apply, in writing, to the departmental 
political chiefs, who, after having caused them to ratify their ap¬ 
plications, shall send the latter to the department of foreign rela¬ 
tions, which shall issue the proper certificate on payment of one 
dollar, which payment shall cover all charges except that for the 
stamped paper used. This certificate, in order to have proper 
legal effect, must be recorded in the Civil Register. 

Art. 88. Any foreigner, without distinction of origin, may be 
naturalized in accordance with the provisions of article 86. 

Art. 89. Naturalization may be express, tacit, or presumptive. 

Art. 90. Certificates of naturalization are divided into two 






GUATEMALA. 


31 


classes, viz: Concessory and declarative certificates. By the for¬ 
mer naturalization is expressly granted; the latter contains a 
declaration that the parties interested have become naturalized 
according to law, owing to their having complied with certain 
requirements, or, what amounts to the same thing, they contain 
a declaration of tacit naturalization. 

Art. 91. A certificate declarative of tacit naturalization is retro¬ 
active in its effect to the time when the loyal act was consum¬ 
mated which effected the change of nationality; whereas a con¬ 
cessory certificate produces its effects on and after the day of its 
issue. 

Art. 92. No certificate of naturalization can be granted to a 
subject of a nation that is at war with Guatemala, or to a person 
who is reputed to be or who has been legally convicted, in any 
country, of being a pirate, a slave trader, an incendiary, a pois¬ 
oner, a parricide, or a counterfeiter of coin or bank notes, or of 
other paper serving as a substitute for coin. 

Art. 93. Tacit naturalization is secured: 

I. Bv not making the reservation referred to in paragraph 1, 
article 7, of the Constitution of the Republic. 

II. By accepting one of those public offices which are reserved 
for Guatemalans. 

Art. 94. A naturalized person acquires all the rights and con¬ 
tracts all the obligations of Guatemalans, unless such rights and 
obligations are excepted in the following articles: 

TITLE VIII. 

Sole Chapter. — Expulsion. 

Art. 95. The territory of Guatemala is an asylum for all for¬ 
eigners. 

Art. 96. The Government exercises over foreigners all the 
rights of inspection and vigilance which belong to it, according 
to the laws and police regulations, which foreigners, without ex¬ 
ception, are required to obey. 

Art. 97. If foreigners who have taken refuge in Guatemala 
shall (misusing the right of asylum) conspire against the country 
or endeavor to overthrow or modify its institutions, or to dis¬ 
turb in any way the public tranquillity and peace of a friendly 


/ 




32 


GUATEMALA. 


Nation, the Government may order their expulsion from the 
national territory. 

Art. 98. Foreigners who, not having permission from the Gov¬ 
ernment to remain in the country as domiciled persons, shall fail 
to furnish evidence that they possess adequate means of subsist¬ 
ence, may be sent to the frontier of the country from which they 
come, or put on board of a vessel in one of the ports of the Re¬ 
public. 

Art. 99. A foreigner temporarily residing in the country, or 
an immigrant, who endangers public tranquillity by his conduct, 
or who has been prosecuted for or convicted in another country 
of one of the crimes or offenses for which extradition is granted,, 
may be compelled by the Government to leave a determinate 
place, or to reside in such place as may be assigned to him, and 
finally to leave the Republic. 

Art. 100. An immigrant who, being unable to identify himself,, 
shall be guilty of falsehood in stating his name and circum¬ 
stances, may be expelled from the territory of Guatemala by or¬ 
der of the President of the Republic, as may be any person pre¬ 
senting fraudulent documents for the purpose of identification. 

Art. 101. Political chiefs and municipal alcaldes shall take care 
that indigent foreigners, and also those who are sick and in need,, 
be always assisted by the charitable establishments and board 
under their control, and they shall in all cases, acting in concert 
with the consular officers of the nation to which such foreigners 
belong, take proper measures to return them to the country 
whence they came. 

Art. 102. The same course is to be pursued in the case of aban¬ 
doned children, the offspring of foreigners. In such cases the 
effort shall always be made to reconcile the interests of good 
order and a proper police system with the sacred duties of 
humanity. 

Art. 103. Decisions respecting sick and indigent foreigners 
and foreign children who have been abandoned shall always be 
brought to the knowledge of the proper consular officer, who 
shall be requested to take charge of persons belonging to the 
former of the above-mentioned classes of persons, on his own 
responsibility. 


GUATEMALA. 


33 


Art. 104. If a foreign Government shall request, on grounds 
considered sufficient, the internment of one of its subjects who 
resides in a town or locality near to the frontier of such country, 
the Government of Guatemala may intern him, and designate as 
his residence such place or territory as it may think proper. 

Art. 105. Only in exceptional cases connected with the preser¬ 
vation of public order can foreigners be expelled who are married 
to Guatemalan women, and who have resided in the country for a 
period exceeding five years. The same rule applies to those 
whose option of nationality is still pending. 

Art. 106. The person whom the order of expulsion concerns 
shall in all cases be notified thereof, and at least twenty-four 
hours shall be allowed him in which to obey it. The procedure 
in cases of expulsion is simply executive. 

Art. 107. In case of disobedience, the public force shall pro¬ 
ceed to effect the expulsion, and if the expelled person shall re¬ 
turn to the territory of Guatemala he shall be tried by the courts 
of the-Republic and shall be punished for disobedience, in pur¬ 
suance of article 142 of the Penal Code ; but when he shall have 
paid or served out the penalty to which he shall have been sen¬ 
tenced, he may again be expelled from the territory of the Repub¬ 
lic, to which end the judge who shall have tried the case shall 
take care to notify the minister of the interior in due time and 
through the proper channel. 

TITLE IX. 

Art. 108. The purchase of wild lands in territory 011 the fron¬ 
tier is absolutely prohibited to the native citizens of nations bor¬ 
dering on Guatemala, and to those who have become naturalized 
therein. 

Art. 109. A foreigner who is allowed by law to purchase wild 
lands may pre-empt a number of caballerias not exceeding fif¬ 
teen; in no case, however, shall he be allowed to transfer his prop¬ 
erty or any real estate that he may have acquired in the Repub¬ 
lic to any foreign Government. 

TITLE X. 

Chapter I.—Concerning Criminal Cases. 

Art. no. The laws relating to police and public safety are 







4 


GUATEMALA. 


subject to no exception whatever, and are binding - upon all per¬ 
sons residing within the territory of the State. Foreigners aie, 
therefore, amenable to the laws and courts of Guatemala foi an\ 
crimes that they may commit within the territory of Guatemala. 

Art. hi. The following persons are excepted from the provi¬ 
sions of the foregoing article: Princes of reigning families, pres¬ 
idents or chief magistrates of other countries, ambassadors, min¬ 
isters plenipotentiary, ministers resident, charges d’affaires, and 
foreigners who are permanently employed at legations. Such 
persons, when they commit a crime, shall be placed at the dis¬ 
posal of their respective governments. 

Art. 112. Cognizance of crimes whose commission has been 
begun in Guatemala, and consummated or frustrated in foreign 
countries, shall be taken by the courts and judges of Guatemala, 
in case the acts perpetrated in Guatemala constitute crimes in 
themselves, and only with respect to such crimes. 

Art. 113. Foreigners shall be tried by the judges and courts 
of the Republic when they shall have committed one of the fol¬ 
lowing crimes outside of the territory of the Nation: A crime 
against the independence of the Republic, the integrity of its ter¬ 
ritory, its form of Government, its tranquillity, its internal or ex¬ 
ternal safety, or against the Chief Magistrate of the State, or the 
crime of forging the signature of the President of the Republic 
or of the ministers of State, or of counterfeiting the public seals, 
the legal coin of Guatemala, the paper money of Guatemala 
which legally is in circulation, bonds, certificates, or other docu¬ 
ments of the National public credit, or notes issued by a bank 
doing business in the Republic in pursuance of its laws and 
authorized to issue such notes, and also the crime of introducing 
such counterfeit papers or money into the Republic and circulat¬ 
ing the same therein. 

Art. 114. If persons guilty of the crimes enumerated in the 
foregoing article shall have been acquitted or punished in a for¬ 
eign country, their cases shall not be re-opened, provided that 
(in the latter case) they shall have suffered the full penalty 
to which they were sentenced. The same shall be the case if they 
have been pardoned, except when they have been guilty of the 
crime of treason. If they have suffered a part of the penalty, al- 


GUATEMALA. 


35 

lowance therefor shall be made, and it shall be deducted from 
that which they would otherwise have to suffer. 

Art. 115. The provisions of the foregoing articles apply to 
foreigners who have committed any of the crimes therein enu¬ 
merated, when they are apprehended in Guatemalan territory or 
when their extradition is obtained. 

Art. 116. The following persons shall also be tried by the 
judges and courts of the Republic, unless there is something to 
prevent in the existing international treaties: 

1. Foreigners who commit a crime on the high seas on board 
of a Guatemalan vessel. 

2. Foreigners who commit a crime on board of a foreign 
merchant vessel anchored in a Guatemalan port, or being in the 
territorial waters of the Republic, unless such crime is committed 
by a person belonging to the crew against another member of the 
same crew. 

3. Foreigners, members of the crew of a foreign merchant 
vessel, even though they have committed a crime against a per¬ 
son belonging to the same crew, if the aid of the Guatemalan 
authorities is asked for on board of the vessel, or when the tran¬ 
quillity of the port is endangered by the perpetration of the 
crime. 

4. Foreigners who have committed against Guatemalans, in a 
foreign country, the crime of arson, murder, robbery, or any 
other for which the perpetrator is extraditable, provided that a 
charge has been made by a person having a legal right to make 
charges. 

Art. 117. The ordinary courts are competent to take cogni¬ 
zance of offenses committed by foreigners, and the judges of the 
place where they are committed shall be the only ones having 
authority to try their perpetrator. 

Art. 118. Foreigners may enter a complaint on account of 
offenses committed against their persons or property, or the 
property of those whom they represent, security always being 
furnished previously, the amount of which shall be fixed by the 
competent court or judge, subject to such exceptions as may be 
authorized by treaty or by the principle of reciprocity. 

Art. 119. The statements of foreigners who are brought to 






36 


GUATEMALA. 


trial and who are ignorant of the Spanish language or those of 
witnesses who are unable to express themselves in Spanish, shall 
be made through a sworn interpreter, and the questions and 
answers shall be recorded in the national language and in that 
of the prisoner or the witness making the statement. When 
this is not possible, the papers containing the questions and 
answers shall be sent to the office of the official translator. 

Art. 120. In no case shall the sentence pronounced by foreign 
courts be executed in Guatemala, nor shall they occasion the 
additional punishment curtailed by a repetition of the offense. 

LETTERS ROGATORY. 

Art. 121. Letters rogatory to foreign courts shall always be 
sent through the diplomatic channel, or through such channel 
and in such form as may be expressly established by treaty. 

The principle of reciprocity must govern in all cases. These 
same rules shall be observed in complying in Guatemala with 
the requests made in letters rogatory of foreign courts whereby 
it is asked that some judicial act be performed. 

Art. 122. The legations shall guarantee to the ministry of the 
interior and of justice the payment of the expenses that may 
be caused by criminal prosecutions instituted either ex-officio or 
at the instance of a party declared indigent. The legations shall 
not transmit letters rogatory of foreign authorities, unless the 
payment of the expenses that may be caused by compliance 
with the requests therein contained, in such manner as may be 
agreed upon with the Government of the country, shall be guar¬ 
anteed. 

Chapter II.—The Administration of lustice as Regards Foreigners. 

Art. 123. Foreigners are subject to the laws and courts of 
Guatemala in all suits brought by them or against them to en¬ 
force the fulfillment of obligations contracted in or out of Guate¬ 
mala in favor of Guatemalans, or having reference in general to 
property or to the ownership of anything valuable in the terri¬ 
tory of Guatemala. 

Art. 124. The Guatemalan courts shall likewise be competent, 









GUATEMALA. 


37 


rmd it shall be their duty, to take cognizance of such suits between 
foreigners as may be brought before them, and as may have ref¬ 
erence to the fulfillment of obligations contracted or performable 
in Guatemala, or when it is so provided by treaty. 

Art. 125. In all other matters in which foreigners are con¬ 
cerned, the courts of Guatemala shall alone be competent to 
adopt urgent and provisional measures of precaution and safety. 

Art. 126. The provisions established by the rules of compe¬ 
tency in civil matters are applicable to foreigners when they have 
recourse to the judges and courts of Guatemala, soliciting acts 
of voluntary jurisdiction, taking part therein or appearing in 
court as plaintiffs or defendants against Guatemalans or against 
other foreigners, when it is proper for the courts of Guatemala to 
take cognizance according to the laws of the Republic or its 
treaties with other powers. 

Art. 127. Foreigners against whom legal proceedings are in¬ 
stituted, shall, when this is necessary, enjoy the benefit of poverty 
for purposes of litigation. The same benefit shall be enjoyed 
by foreigners instituting legal proceedings, if reciprocity is grant¬ 
ed to Guatemalans in their country. 

Art. 128. If the plaintiff is a foreigner, he shall be obliged to 
furnish, if the defendant shall demand it in limine litis, the se¬ 
curity judicatum solid as a guarantee of his solvency; in default 
thereof, a delay shall be granted in such cases and in such man- 
n< r as are required of Guatemalans in the country of the plain¬ 
tiff. 

In no case shall such security be required in commercial 
matters. 

Art. 129. The provisions which govern commercial matters are 
applicable to all persons engaged in trade, without distinction or 

privilege by reason of nationality. 

Art. 130. The law of the place where a judicial act has been 
performed shall determine the methods of proof of which a for¬ 
eigner must make use before the courts in order to show the 
existence of such act. From this rule are excepted acts and 
contracts relating to real property situated in the Republic of 
Guatemala, which shall be governed by the laws of Guatemala 
exclusively. 





38 


GUATEMALA. 


FINAL PROVISION. 

Art. 131. The provisions of this law shall in no wise impair 
the immunities and guarantees which are secured to diplomatic 
and consular officers by international law and by the treaties or 
conventions which the Government has concluded; nor shall they 
impair the rights granted by such treaties in particular to foreign¬ 
ers of a determinate nation. 

In order to make this matter as complete as possible, the text 
of the law regulating the status of foreign companies in the Re¬ 
public of Guatemala, promulgated April 15, 1893, is herein 
given: 

or, 1 • • VGj : *' 

LAW REGARDING FOREIGN COMPANIES IN 

GUATEMALA. 

Article 1. Companies lawfully constituted in a foreign country 
may establish themselves, or have agencies, or branches, in 
Guatemala, when previously authorized to do so by the Execu¬ 
tive, upon their binding themselves to submit to the provisions of 
the Code of Commerce in all matters concerning the creation of 
their establishments in the National territory, and their commer¬ 
cial operations, and to the jurisdiction of the courts of the coun¬ 
try. 

Art. 2. Foreign companies which are willing to establish them¬ 
selves, or to have agencies or branches in Guatemala shall, as 
soon as the permission referred to in the foregoing article is se¬ 
cured by them, proceed to the registration of their constitution, 
by-laws, deeds of partnership, and all other documents con¬ 
cerning their incorporation, in the manner and form provided 
by article 235 of the Code of Commerce. 

Art. 3. The Executive shall not issue the permission referred 
to in article 1 of the present law if the application is not accom¬ 
panied by a certificate showing that the foreign company was 
constituted in accordance with the laws of its country. This 
certificate shall be issued by either the Guatemalan Minister, or 
Consul, accredited to that country. 

Art. 4. Each company lawfully constituted in a foreign conn- 



GUATEMALA. 


39 


try, established in Guatemala, or having agencies or branches 
within its territory, shall, besides registering itself as above pro¬ 
vided, publish every year a balance sheet or statement, showing 
with perfect clearness the amount of its assets and liabilities, and 
also a list of the persons entrusted with the management of its 
business. 

Art. 5. The failure by the company, or its branches or agencies, 
to comply with any of the provisions of the present law shall ren¬ 
der all those doing business in their name jointly and personally 
responsible for all the obligations contracted in the Republic; 
they being liable furthermore to be prosecuted for embezzlement, 
if through their operations losses are inflicted upon third parties. 

Art. 6. The responsibility of the agencies and branches is 
understood to be additional to whatever action may be taken 
under the law against the companies themselves. 

Art. 7. The Executive shall have the power to require from 
each foreign company wishing to establish itself or to have agen¬ 
cies or branches in Guatemala, as a condition for the granting of 
the permission referred to in articles 1 and 2 of this law, a tax 
or license fee of no more than one thousand dollars every year. 

Art. 8. Foreign companies, now doing business in the Repub¬ 
lic, shall be henceforth subject to the provisions of the present 
law; otherwise their future acts shall have no validity. 



Chapter V. 


IMMIGRATION. 

Guatemala is a country abundant in vacant and fertile lands, 
which offers to the immigrant the greatest inducements. Almost 
two-thirds of its territory is yet uncultivated for want of laborers, 
and the immigration of honest, industrious people will certainly 
be a blessing both for them and the country. Its virgin soil does 
not need fertilizers, and the poorest immigrant may, if he wishes, 
secure good wages and support his family. 

There are many agricultural industries which need no capital 
and afford an opportunity to wait for other work of more profit. 
An assured independence can promptly be obtained by raising 
pigs or poultry, or by cultivating gardens. But immigrants with 
some capital, willing to engage in the cultivation of coffee, cacao, 
etc., may be said to be sure to make a little fortune at the end of 
a few years. Skilled labor of all kinds also finds an unlimited 
held in Guatemala. The fact is well established that no person 
has ever left the country for lack of opportunity to invest his 
capital, or for having failed to obtain lucrative employment. 

Foreign immigration is promoted and encouraged by the Gov¬ 
ernment in every possible way. Its importance is fully recog¬ 
nized and appreciated, and no effort is spared to make it a suc¬ 
cess. 

The following is the full text of the Immigration Law pro¬ 
mulgated on January 25, 1896. 

IMMIGRATION LAW. 

Chapter I.—Immigrants and their Classification. 

Article 1. Foreign immigration shall be regulated by the pro¬ 
visions of the present law, and by such other provisions as may 
be enacted hereafter for its proper enforcement. 




Cathedral, Guatemala City 




















GUATEMALA. 


41 


Art. 2. No immigration contract shall be entered into with any 
Chinese, nor shall any of the latter be accepted as an immigrant. 
No people, of whatever country, over sixty years of age, unless 
coming with their families, or having their families already estab¬ 
lished in the country; convicts sentenced in their respective coun¬ 
tries to imprisonment with hard labor for crimes or offences, not 
political; and persons who lack such requirements of good health 
and morals as are necessary, shall be also refused admission as 
immigrants. 

Art. 3. Immigrants shall be, for the purposes of the present 
law, all those foreigners having a profession, occupation, or trade, 
whether day laborers, artisans, workingmen in factories, farmers, 
or professors, who give up their own homes to come and settle 
111 Guatemala, and accept their transportation from the place of 
embarkation to the place of landing, to be paid either by the 
Guatemalan Government or by an immigration company. 

Art. 4. Immigrants shall be also those foreigners whose trans¬ 
portation to the country was not paid as set forth in the preceding 
article, but whose desire to enjoy the benefits secured by this law, 
as well as to comply with the duties which the same imposes, 
has been voluntarily set forth and declared previous to their em¬ 
barkation, before the Consul of Guatemala at the respective 
places. 

Art. 5. Immigrants are classified as follows: 

I. Immigrants without contract, seeking occupation in the 

country. 

II. Immigrants under contracts with private immigration com¬ 
panies. 

III. Immigrants under contracts with the Government of the 

Republic. 

The transportation of immigrants of the first and third class 
above named shall be at the expense of the Nation; that of those 
of the second class shall be paid by the companies. 

Art. 6. Immigrants under contract with the Government, or 
with private immigration companies, shall be bound to comply 
with the stipulations of the said contracts, provided, however, 
that there is nothing in them contrary to morals, good habits, or 
the laws of the Republic. 


42 


GUATEMALA. 


Chapter II.—The Board of Immigration. 

Art. 7. A board to be called Central Board of Immigration 
(junta Central de Immigracion), to consist of two planters, two 
merchants, and two master workmen, and to be a dependency of 
the Department of “Fomento,” shall be established in the Capital 
of the Republic. 

Art. 8. The duties and the powers of each one of the members 
of this board shall be determined by special by-laws. The salaries 
to be paid them and the employes of the board shall be fixed by 
the Appropriation Bill. 

Art. 9. The Central Board of Immigration shall have the power 
to establish at any Capital or Capitals of Department, and at any 
port or ports of the Republic, a sub-board or local board of immi¬ 
gration, consisting at the most of three persons, a farmer, a mer¬ 
chant, and an artisan, whom it shall select out of the most com¬ 
petent and respectable people of the locality. 

Art. 10. The duties and obligations of the Central Board of Im¬ 
migration shall be as follows: 

I. To recommend to the Government, after the proper discus¬ 
sion, the adoption of such measures as may be calculated to at¬ 
tract to the country that kind of immigration which, under the 
circumstances of the Republic, is deemed most useful and accept¬ 
able. 

II. To keep itself in active communication with the Consuls of 
the Republic in all foreign countries, so as to make the people of 
the latter well acquainted with the condition of Guatemala, its 
habits and ways of living, its arts and industries, the diversity of 
its climate and productions, and the facilities for acquisition of 
public lands. 

III. To maintain direct relations with the sub-boards or local 
boards of immigration, and with the authorities of the Republic, 
on all matters connected with the promotion of immigration, and 
such a reasonable distribution thereof as is necessary to make it 
useful and profitable. 

IV. To enter into contracts with one or more navigation com¬ 
panies for the transportation of immigrants to the ports of the 
Republic; said contracts, however, to be submitted to the Gov- 


GUATEMALA. 


43 


eminent for the proper approval. Nothing in this provision is to 
be construed as abridging the power of the Government to enter 
oirectly into the said contracts with whomever it may deem ad¬ 
visable. 

\ . To arrange with the immigration agents and the companies 
in charge of piers and railroads for the prompt landing and trans¬ 
portation to their respective destinations of both the immigrants 
and their baggage. 

\ I. To see that the steamship companies, with which contracts 
have been entered into for the transportation of immigrants, 
faithfully perform their part of the contract. 

VII. To solicit by all means within its reach the prompt em¬ 
ployment of the immigrants. 

\ III. To keep a Book of Registry, on which the proper entry 
shall be made chronologically of the arrival of each immigrant, 
his name, age, sex, nationality, trade or occupation, degree of 
learning, and whether married or single. 

IX. To submit every month to the Secretary of “Fomento” a 
report of the work done in that period; and every year, and to the 
same official, a general report stating the number and class of 
immigrants which have arrived in the country during the same 
period, their profession or occupation, and the profit which the 
Republic has derived therefrom. The said annual report shall 
contain also such suggestions and recommendations which may 
be deemed proper as to the class of immigration which might be 
promoted to the best advantage, expressing the obstacles which 
have thus far been encountered by the board, and explaining the 
means which in its judgment might be successfully employed to 
invigorate immigration. 

Chapter III.—Rights and Privileges of the Immigrants. 

Art. ii. In order to encourage and promote immigration the 
Government of the Republic shall lend the immigrants arriving 
in the country without contract, the following assistance: 

I. It shall pay for their transportation from the port of embark¬ 
ation to the place of landing. 

It may also, if deemed bv it advisable, pay for their transporta¬ 
tion by land from the place where the immigrant had his resi¬ 
dence to the port of embarkation. 





44 


GUATEMALA. 


II. No import duties shall be levied on the wearing apparel 
and baggage of the immigrant, their house furniture, agricultural 

instruments, tools or implements of the trade, occupation or pro¬ 
fession in which he is engaged, seeds and domestic animals; but 

due judgment shall be exercised to ascertain that all the above- 
named articles are bought by the immigrant for his own imme¬ 
diate daily use, and not for commercial purposes. 

III. No consular duties, including passport fees and the fees 
of the certificate with which they must have provided themselves 
setting forth their condition, shall be paid by them. 

The transportation of immigrants belonging to classes first and 
third, from the port of landing to the place of destination, shall 
be paid respectively, as the case may be, by the Government or 
by private companies. 

Art. 12. The Government of the Republic shall, whenever it 
may deem so advisable, grant gratuitously to any immigrants of 
the three classes above named, who have behaved well and given 
proof of their assiduity, lots of public lands of no less than two 
hectares, and no more than six, in either the department of Peten 
or those of Izabal or Huehuetenango, provided that said immi¬ 
grants bind themselves to cultivate, within at least two years, the 
third part of the granted lot. Upon the fulfilment of this condi¬ 
tion the Executive shall issue in favor of the grantee the patent or 
final title papers which shall prove the ownership. 

Art. 13. For the purposes of the preceding article the Exec¬ 
utive shall cause the proper tracts or zones of tillable land to be 
set apart in each department therein named, and said zones shall 
be kept in reserve for the exclusive use of the immigrants. 

Art. 14. Immigrants shall enjoy in the Republic all the rights 
and privileges granted by law to Guatemalan citizens. They 
shall be exempted during their whole life from serving municipal 
offices, unless voluntarily accepted. They shall also be exempted 
from military service, except, however, in case of foreign war. 

Art. 15. Immigrants shall also be exempted for four years, to 
be counted from the date of their arrival in the Republic, from 
service in the construction or repair of the public roads, and from 
the payment of municipal taxes. 




GUATEMALA. 


45 


Chapter IV.—Duties of the Immigrants. 

Art. 16. All immigrants are bound by duty, from the date of 
their arrival in the country, to obey the laws of the Republic, and 
to obey and respect the authorities. 

Art. 17. When coming under contract, either with the Govern¬ 
ment or with private companies, immigrants shall be bound to 
comply with the stipulations of the contract; but no contract shall 
be operative for more than four years, nor can any be enforced, 
as previously stated, if containing provisions in conflict with the 
laws of the country. 

Art. 18. When acquiring lands, under the provisions of article 
12, immigrants shall also be bound to cultivate one-third of the 
tract granted, under penalty, by not doing so, of having their 
grants forfeited, and the said forfeiture shall be no ground for 
diplomatic claims. 

Chapter V.—Immigration Agents. 

Art. 19. Guatemalan Consuls, at any place, whether of Europe 
or America, shall become, under the present law, and whenever 
the Government may deem it fit, Immigration Agents. 

Art. 20. The duties and powers of these agents shall be as fol¬ 
lows : 

I. To make, by all means within their reach, active and efficient 
propaganda in favor of emigration to the Republic of Guatemala; 
to cause the physical and political features of the country, as well 
as diversity of its climate and productions, the present condition 
of its arts and industries, its means of communication, the advan¬ 
tages which it offers to industrious immigrants, the facilities for 
the acquisition of lands, the prices for provisions and articles of 
consumption, and of the products of labor, and all other pertinent 
facts, to be well known in their districts. 

II. To furnish gratuitously all such information about the 
condition of the Republic as may be asked from them. 

III. To certify about the conduct and aptness of all persons 
coming as immigrants to Guatemala, or authenticate certificates 
of the same character issued by the authorities of the country 
wherein they reside. No fee shall be charged by the Consuls or 




46 


GUATEMALA. 


Immigration Agents, on account of their service, under penalty 
of dismissal from service. 

IV. To see that the contracts entered into by the Central Board 
of Immigration, or by the Government, with any steamship com¬ 
pany for the transportation of immigrants are faithfully complied 
with. 

V. To intervene, according to instructions given them to that 
eltect by the Central Board of Immigration, in all contracts for 
the transportation of immigrants. 

VI. To pay, when so instructed by the Central Board of Immi¬ 
gration, or by the Secretary of “Fomento,” the fares of the immi¬ 
grants. 

VII. To provide with transportation tickets all such persons as 
may desire to come to Guatemala as immigrants, subject, how¬ 
ever, to the stipulations of the contracts which may have been en¬ 
tered into with navigation companies. 

VIII. To report every three months the number and amount 
of the fares paid and of the transportation tickets issued by them 
in that period. 

IX. To enter, under instructions of the Central Board of Immi¬ 
gration, or of the Secretary of “Fomento/’ into contracts with any 
navigation company or companies for the transportation of immi¬ 
grants. 

X. To keep two books, one for the recording of everything 
done by them for the promotion of immigration; and another on 
which, by order of dates, the name, age, profession or occupation 
and nationality of each immigrant, as well as the name of the ship 
on which he came, shall be entered. 

XI. To submit every year to the Central Board of Immigration 
a report setting forth the number and the quality of the immi¬ 
grants sent to the Republic, the causes and circumstances which 
in their opinion render immigration difficult, and the means 
which can be used to remove these obstacles, or otherwise pro¬ 
mote it efficiently. 

XII. To receive such correspondence as may be sent to them 
by the Central Board of Immigration, and forward it rapidly and 
safely. 


GUATEMALA. 


47 


Chapter VI. — Offices. 

Art. 21. The duties and powers of the Central Board of Immi¬ 
gration, and of the sub-boards which may be established, shall 
be as follows: 

I. To secure, by all possible means within their reach, prompt 
and profitable occupation with persons of recognized respecta¬ 
bility for all immigrants arrived in the Republic. 

II. To attend to any requisitions for immigrants made from 
them either by the Government or any private company, provided 
that the expenses to be incurred for that purpose shall be paid in 
advance either by the Government or by the company. 

III. To see that the contracts entered into by private parties 
with the immigrants be faithfully complied with, and to intervene, 
if so requested, in the making of the same contracts. 

IV. To enter upon a special registry the employment secured 
each immigrant, setting forth the class of employment obtained 
for him, the date on which it was obtained, the terms agreed upon 
with the employer, and the names of both employer and employe. 

Art. 22. The Political Chiefs, Commandants of Ports, Political 
Commissioners, or Mayors of the localities where no immigration 
office exists, shall perform respectively, as the case may be, the 
functions entrusted to the said office under the present law. 

General Provisions. 

Art. 23. All laws and provisions of all kinds, which may be at 
variance with the present law, are hereby repealed. 

Art. 24. The Government shall recommend to the National 
Legislative Assembly, after consultation with the Central Board 
of Immigration, and when the practical results of the present law 
may firmly warrant it, such amendments and reforms as may be 
deemed conducive to hasten or increase immigration. 

Art. 25. This law shall go into effect on the 1st of February, 

1896. 

WAGES AND COST OF LIVING. 

The amount that a laborer, a workman, or an employe can earn 
daily cannot be stated accurately, as it varies according to the lo- 



48 


GUATEMALA. 


cality wherein the laborer is settled. The rates depend also upon 
the kind of work or occupation, the skill of the laborer, the com¬ 
petition, the resources, requirements, and customs of the place, 
and other circumstances; but in no case are the wages insufficient 
to provide for a modest living and to enable a sober and economi 
cal man to save at least half of his earnings. 

The Gaia del mmiigrante en la Republica de Guatemala (The Im¬ 
migrant’s Guide in the Republic of Guatemala), published in 
1895, contains the following list of wages: 

Bakers, $60 to $100 per month; blacksmiths, $1.50 to $3 per 
day; cabinet makers, $4 to $10 per day; carpenters, $1.50 to $5 per 
day; coachmen, $20 to $60 per month; cooks, $30 to $100 per 
month; day laborers, 75c. to $1 per day; hotel waiters, $15 to $30 
per month; hotel bell boys, $10 to $20 per month; masons, $1.50 
to $2.50 per day; painters, $1.50 to $2.50 per day; printers, $2.50 
to $8 per day. 

The salaries paid to managers of plantations vary from $100 
to $300 per month; those paid the stewards on the plantations 
vary from $25 to $100 per month. 

The wages paid the farm hands and journeymen vary from 31c. 
to 75c. per day. 

The same book publishes the following list of prices now paid 
in Guatemala for the principle articles of consumption: 

Maize, $7.50 per bag of 175 pounds; foreign potatoes, $5 per 
box of 115 pounds; rice, $3.75 per package of 50 pounds; foreign 
flour, $9.25 per 100 pounds; domestic flour, $9.25 per 100 pounds; 
maizena, $7.50 per package of 25 pounds; chick-peas, $6 per 
package of 25 pounds; Castille pepper, $32 per 100 pounds; salt, 
$5 per 100 pounds; barley, $50 per ton; alfalfa, $70 per ton; sugar, ■ 
$13.50 per 100 pounds; Muscovado sugar, $8 per 100 pounds; 
panela (unrefined sugar), white, $18 per load; panela (unrefined 
sugar), black, $14 per load; cominos, $32 per 100 pounds; liquid 
called gas bianco , $10 per box; coffee (gold), $32 per 100 pounds; 
cacao, superior quality, $69 per 100 pounds; cacao, middle qual¬ 
ity, $62 per 100 pounds; cinnamon, $100 per bundle; stearine, 
$10 per box; incense, crude, $52 per 100 pounds; fruits in their 
own juice, $13.50 per 100 pounds; oil paints, $36 per 100 pounds; 
sewing machines, $35 to $55 each; tar, $10 per can; linseed oil, 



Avenue of Cocoanut Trees. 

Being the entrance of a sugar estate 


















GUATEMALA. 


49 


$16 per can; bags for the coffee called “gold,” $4.50 per dozen; 
bags for the coffee called “en Dergamino,” $5.35 per dozen; beans, 
S] t per “fanega;” wood for fuel, $1.25 per load; fresh beef, $5 per 
25 pounds; lard, $9 per 25 pounds. 

It must be stated that the above prices are those paid in the 
Capital of the Republic, and that these prices are considerably 
loAver elsewhere in the country. Maize and rice are worth in the 
department of Santa Rosa 75 per cent, less than in the city of 
Guatemala; and the same may be said, more or less, in regard to 
all other articles of consumption. 

Prices of Agricultural Material. 

The prices paid at the Capital of the Republic for agricultural 
material are as follows: 

Barbed wire for fences, $11.50 per 100 pounds; plows, $8 to $40, 
according to class; spades, $11, $12, $14 and $16 per dozen; sul¬ 
phur, $3 per 25 pounds; iron buckets, $12, $15 and $18 per dozen; 
Portland cement, $12 to $14 per barrel; wire nails, $20 per 100 
pounds; iron nails, $20 per 100 pounds; cuartas for carts, $6, $8 
and Si5 each; manilla rope, $40 per 100 pounds; shelling ma¬ 
chines for maize, $20 to $80 each; axes, 3^ pounds in weight, $3 
each; axes, 44 pounds in weight, $5 each; iron bars, $28, $32, 
$38 and $40 per 100 pounds; iron, plated, $12 per 100 pounds; 
zinc, corrugated plates for roofing, $2.50 to $3 each; shovels, iron, 
S16 to $18 per dozen. 

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

The Government not only supports and promotes primary in¬ 
struction (making it obligatory between the ages of six and four¬ 
teen vears, but also encourages a higher standard of scholarship 
by supporting colleges and universities, and awarding premiums 
to all those who distinguish themselves in professional and tech¬ 
nical teaching. 

In 1894 there were 1,360 primary schools, including kinder¬ 
gartens but excluding night schools. The attendance of the day 
schools was 61.775 scholars. The management, utensils, text¬ 
books, and prizes are paid for by the Government. 





50 


GUATEMALA. 


The Government also aids different localities in building school 
houses. Public schools are found not only in the large towns, 
but also in the smallest villages. On plantations the proprietors 
are compelled to establish them where there are more than ten 
children within their limits. “The object of the schools,” says 
the law, “is to form men with sufficient instruction and morality 
to be worthy members of a free and republican society.” 

Higher instruction is imparted in the Capital by the National 
Institute for men (502 scholars), and the National Institute for 
young ladies (305 scholars). In Ouezaltenango there are two 
Institutes of the same class, and two in Chiquimula. 

To each one of these six Istitutes a normal school or depart¬ 
ment is attached, but in Guatemala there is also a thoroughly 
organized Normal School for Young Ladies. The cities of An¬ 
tigua, San Marcos and Mazatenango have also normal schools 
for young men. 

Professional education is imparted in Guatemala in the Law 
School, Engineering School, and the School of Medicine. In 
Quezaltenango there is also a Law School. These establishments 
are supported by private funds, but aided by the public treasury 
when necessary. They require a total expenditure of over 
$50,000. 

Private schools receive aid from the Government in certain 
cases, and under certain circumstances. 

The National Conservatory of Music has now 174 pupils, and 
has already produced some noteworthy artists, a few of whom 
have been sent to Italy at the expense of the Government to com¬ 
plete their studies. The people of the country are naturally musi¬ 
cal, and there are schools for this art in eleven towns of the Re¬ 
public. 

In the Capital there is also an Art School, where drawing, 
painting, engraving, sculpture, architecture, etc., are taught. 

Book-keeping and kindred branches are taught in the Com¬ 
mercial College. 

At the Capital, Quezaltenango, Huehuetenango and Chiqui¬ 
mula, there are Trades’ Schools, where instruction is given to 
more than 500 scholars. A school of this description for women 
has more than 100 pupils, and is giving good results. 


GUATEMALA. 


51 


The amount originally appropriated this year by the National 
Legislative Assembly for public instruction was §1,120,000, 
which proved to be insufficient, and the appropriation of an addi¬ 
tional sum of $66,270 was subsequently required. Since the 1st 
of January, 1895, 309 primary schools have been founded, in ad¬ 
dition to all the others which were then in existence. The pur¬ 
pose of the Government is to spread primary instruction in every 
possible direction. 

Libraries and Reading Rooms. 

The Capital of the Republic has a National Library with 
30,000 volumes and many unpublished documents concerning 
the ancient and mediaeval history of Guatemala. Its reading 
room contains all Guatemalan and many foreign newspapers and 
periodical publications. For a moderate subscription works are 
lent, and can be taken from the library. During the day and 
evening it is open to the public. In 1893, 9,163 readers were reg¬ 
istered in it. 

The Law School has a large library, consisting of works per¬ 
taining to the special branches taught in it. It is open in the 
morning and a portion of the afternoon. 

The School of Medicine and Pharmacy has also a valuable 
library, which is constantly enlarged. It receives many medical 
publications in exchange for the important monthly magazine 
issued by it under the name of “La Escuela de Medicina.” 

The Engineering School has also a well equipped library. 

The Supreme Court has a library of 5,000 volumes open to the 
public. 

The National Central Institute for men has a library of 7,000 
volumes. Visitors are admitted by permission from the Director. 

The Central Academy of Teachers has a library of more than 
3,000 volumes. The Normal School of Antigua has also a library. 

Quezaltenango has a splendid public library, presented to the 
city by the Government, which paid for it $30,000. 

The library of San Marcos has 3,000 volumes, and that at Chi- 
quimula is by no means unimportant. 

Hardly a person of education can be found in Guatemala who 


52 


GUATEMALA. 


does not possess a library, sometimes very valuable. Reading 
rooms are found not only in the Capital, but in all important 
towns. 


Printing and Publishing. 

There are many excellent printing establishments in the Capi¬ 
tal, the principal one being the National Printing Office—one of 
the best in Latin America. It is the property of the Government. 
Its value is estimated at $350,000, including building, machinery, 
type, etc. 

Six daily papers are published in the Capital: “Diario Oficial,” 
a Government organ; the “Diario de Centro-America“La Re¬ 
publican “La Nueva Era;’’ “El Progreso Nacional;'’ and "La 
Xacion.” “La Asamblea Legislativa” is a paper published daily 
during the session of the legislative body, and is equivalent to 
the Congressional Record of the United States. “La Gaceta de 
los Tribunales” is a bi-monthly publication, containing the de¬ 
cisions of the Supreme Court. Besides these there are 28 papers 
published in different parts of the Republic. 


CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 


Charitable institutions, supported by the Government and by 
private persons, are numerous in Guatemala. 

The General Hospital of Guatemala City occupies an ample and 
beautiful building, which is furnished with everything required 
for an establishment of its kind by the most recent medical and 
surgical improvements. 

Patients are received at all hours. In 1893 9,910 patients re¬ 
ceived attention. Only 434 died. The expenditures amounted 
to $208,062.28. There is also a sanitarium attached to the General 
Hospital, where for $2 a day the best attention is obtained. 

The Insane Asylum is a well equipped establishment. 

There is a Military Hospital; a Hospital for Leprosy, called El 
Asilo de Piedad (The Home of Mercy); a Model Hospital for 
women; and a Hospital for eoidemic diseases. 

In other parts of the Republic there are analogous institutions, 
the most important of which are: 






GUATEMALA. 


53 


The General Hospital of the West, in Quezaltenango, and the 
Hospitals of Antigua, Amatitlan, Escuintla, Chiquimula, Retal- 
huleu and Coban. 

There are establishments in the Capital devoted to the care of 
orphans, where they are protected, educated, and taught some 
trade. The Asylum for boys has more than 300 inmates, while 
that for girls contains a greater number. 

Quezaltenango has some institutions of the same kind, and in 
every principal city of the Republic there are also beneficent aid 
societies, both native and foreign. 




Chapter VI. 


HOW TO REACH GUATEMALA.—STEAMSHIP COM¬ 
MUNICATION WITH THE UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD.—FARES 
AND RATES OF FREIGHT. 

Guatemala can be reached from the United States by five dif¬ 
ferent ways: 

ist. From New York to San Jose, via Panama. The steamers 
of the “Panama Railroad Steamship Line” leave New York, Pier 
57 North River, on the ioth, 20th and 30th of each month, reach 
Colon seven days afterwards, and by means of the Isthmus Rail¬ 
road connect in Panama with the steamers of the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Company, which reach San Jose on the 28th, 4th and 
15th of each month. 

The trip takes from 15 to 18 days. 

The fare for first class passengers is $120. 

Schedules, showing rates of freight, can be obtained at Pier 
57, North River, New York City.* 

2d. From San Francisco, California, to San Jose. The steamers 
of the “Pacific Mail Steamship Company” leave San Francisco on 
Ihe 8th, 18th and 28th of each month, and reach San Jose on the 
2_ith, 5th and 15th following. 

The trip lasts from 14 to 17 days. 

The fare for first class passengers is $75; second class, $35.50. 


*Note.—During the Central American Exposition this line will charge 
for the articles sent there the ordinary freight, but will charge nothing for 
the articles returned from the Exposition to the original port of embark¬ 
ation. This is equivalent to a reduction of fifty per cent. No rebate is 
made in the passenger rates. 




GUATEMALA. 


55 


Schedules, showing the rates of freight, can be obtained at the 
office of the company in San Francisco.* 

3d. From New York to Puerto Barrios, on the Atlantic Coast. 
The steamers of the ‘‘Atlas Line Steamship Company” leave New 
\ork every alternate Tuesday, and touch at certain points inHaiti 
before reaching Puerto Barrios; but the passengers may, if they 
wish, hasten their trip by taking, at New YorK, the steamer which 
goes directly to Kingston, Jamaica, on the next Saturday, and 
then taking there the steamer to Puerto Barrios. By doing this 
the trip is shortened, and will take eleven days. 

The fare for first class passengers is $70. 

Information about the rates of freight can be obtained at the 
company’s office, 24 State street, New York City.f 

4th. From Nezv York to Puerto Barrios, on the Atlantic Coast. 
Ihe steamers of the “New York and Central American Steamship 
Line leave New York for Puerto Barrios twice a month, touch¬ 
ing at Kingston, Jamaica, before reaching Puerto Barrios. 

The trip takes about ten days. 

The fare for first class passengers is $70. 

Information about freight can be obtained at the office of the 
company, 9 Stone street, New York City.i 

5th. From New Orleans to Puerto Barrios. The steamers of the 
‘“New Orleans, Belize Royal Mail and Central American Steam¬ 
ship Company, Limited,” leave New Orleans every Thursday, 
and reach Puerto Barrios on the following Tuesday. 

The trip takes five days. 

The fare for first class passengers is $30; steerage, $18. 

Information about freight can be obtained at the office of the 
company at New Orleans.§ 


*Note.—The remarks made in the preceding note, in regard to the rates 
of transportation of articles and passengers, are applicable to this second 
route. 

iNote.—This company will make a rebate of fifty per cent, on the freight 
and passenger rates during the Central American Exposition. 

$Note.—This line will make a discount of twenty-five per cent, on freight 
and passenger rates during the Central American Exposition. 

§Note.—During the Central American Exposition the fare on the steam¬ 
ers of this line will be $25 for first class passengers and $15 for steerage. 
A reduction of thirty-three and a third per cent, of the ordinary rates of 
freight, will be granted on articles sent to the Exposition, 






56 


GUATEMALA. 


Trip to Guatemala. 

Guatemala City, the Capital of the Republic, can be reached on 
the side of the Pacific, from the port of San Jose, by means of the 
Central Railroad. The distance is 74.5 miles. The first class fare 
is $6 in Guatemalan currency; second class, $3. 

Guatemala City can be reached also on the side of the Atlantic, 
from Puerto Barrios, by means of the Northern Railroad, as far 
as Rancho de San Agustin, a distance of 129 miles; and from 
there, a distance of about 60 miles, on horseback. The approxi¬ 
mate cost of the trip this way is $20 in gold. 

Guatemala can be reached from Europe directly, either on the 
Atlantic side or on the Pacific, by way of Cape Horn. 

On the side of the Atlantic there are the steamers of the Royal 
Mail Steamship Company, of Southampton; Compagnic Generate 
Transatlantique, of St. Nazaire, France; the Hamburg-American 
Steamship Company; the Compama Transatldntica , of Barcelona; 
the Compama dc las Antillas y del Pacifico ; the Harrison Line, of 
Liverpool; and the Veloce, of Genoa. 

The trip this way is made via Colon, where the passengers may 
either cross the Isthmus and go from Panama to San Jose, by the 
steamers of the Pacific lines, or be transferred to Puerto Barrios 
by the steamers of the Atlantic lines. 

The steamers of the Royal Mail arrive at Colon every other 
Monday; those of the Transatlantic reach there from Marseilles 
on the 9th, from Havre and Bordeaux on the 19th, and from St. 
Nazaire on the 29th of every month. The steamers of the Ham¬ 
burg-American Company, from Hamburg, Havre, etc., arrive on 
the 4th, 12th, and 23d of each month ; those of the Spanish Trans¬ 
atlantic, from Santander, on the 19th; those of the Compama de 
las Antillas y del Pacifico, and of the Harrison Line, of Liverpool, 
every fourteen days. 

On the side of the Pacific there are directly from Europe the 
two lines called Kosmos and Kirsten. Their steamers take fifty 
days to make the trip from Hamburg to San Jose, via Cape Horn. 

The fares on the Kirsten Line, whose agents in the Republic are 
Messrs. Frederick Keller & Co., are as follows: 




GUATEMALA. 


57 


First Class. 

From San Jose to Panama, $90 silver; from San Jose to Callao, 
£25; from San Jose to A alparaiso, £30; from San Jose to Monte¬ 
video, £50; from San Jose to Hamburg and London, £75. 

Second Class and Steerage. 

Second class and steerage passengers are not admitted on all 
the steamers, and when admitted the fare is arranged between 
them and the captain. 

The fares on the Kosmos Line, from any port of Central Amer¬ 
ica to Europe or South America, are as follows: 

From a port of Central America to either London or Hamburg, 
first class, £751 second class, £45'. to \ alparaiso, first class, £30; 
second class, £20; to Callao, first class, £25 ; second class, £15; to 
Montevideo, first class, £50; second class, £35. 

Children under ten years of age, with their families, two of 
them sleeping in the same bed. shall pay half fare. 

Infants free. 

Servants allowed to be in the cabins shall pay two-thirds fare. 

Dogs from Central America to Valparaiso or Montevideo, £5 ; 
to Europe, £10. 

Fares do not include wines or liquors. 

Each first class or second class passenger is allowed twenty 
cubic feet of baggage free. Children's baggage shall be allowed 
in proportion. Baggage in excess of this shall be charged 2s. 6d. 
per English cubic foot for Europe, and is. 6d. per English cubic 
foot for Valparaiso and Montevideo. 

Tickets are strictly personal, are to be paid in advance, and are 
valid only on the steamer for which they were issued. 

Persons suffering from certain diseases, insane persons, and 
others whose presence on board would be a source of disturbance, 
shall not be admitted. 

Dogs are admitted only when their owners are on board and 
agree to care for them. The animals must go in their own cages. 

The agents for the Kosmos Company at Guatemala are Messrs. 
Furrer, Hastedt & Co. 






58 


GUATEMALA. 


Wharves and Agency Companies . 

The Wharf Company, at San Jose, collects from each pasenger, 
on landing, with ioo pounds of baggage, the sum of $i, and fifty 
cents for each additional hundred-weight. On exportation of 
cacao, india rubber, Peruvian bark, vanilla, sarsaparilla, deer, 
goat or sheep skins, thirty-two cents per hundred-weight; coffee, 
twenty-five cents; native brandies, ten cents; sugar, refined or un¬ 
refined, four cents; timber of all kinds, per 1,000 feet, $3. 

The Agency Company, Limited, of San Jose de Guatemala, col¬ 
lects $1 from each person landing, allows 100 pounds baggage, 
and charges one cent a pound for excess. On exportation the 
charges per 100 pounds are: On sugar, twelve and a half cents; 
on native brandies, twenty cents; on coffee, thirty cents; on cacao, 
thirty cents; on india rubber, fifty cents; on hides, fifty cents; on 
woolen goods, fifteen cents. Beginning with the 1st of January, 
1895, a reduction of thirty per cent, will be made in this tariff. 

The Wharf Company, of Champerico, lands passengers free of 
charge and collects twenty-five cents for each hundred-weight of 
merchandise or fraction thereof. On exportation the charges per 
100 pounds are: On clean coffee and cacao, thirty-two cents; on 
indigo grain, india rubber, and woolen goods, fifty cents; on cof¬ 
fee in hull, twenty-seven cents; on rice, sugar, cereals, provisions, 
and baser metals, twelve cents. 

The Agency Company, of Champerico, Limited. Passengers 
with 100 pounds baggage, $1; excess one cent per pound. On 
exportation the charges per hundred-weight are: On clean coffee, 
thirty cents; on coffee in hull, forty-five cents; on deer skins, fifty 
cents; on india rubber, fifty cents; on hides, at twelve and a half 
cents each. 

Ocos and other ports have several analogous companies, and 
lately an agency company has been established at Puerto Barrios. 

RAILROADS.—WAGON ROADS.—STAGE LINES. 

There are already two railroads in operation in Guatemala: 
One called the Southern (Ferrocarril del Sud), and the other the 
Western (Ferrocarril Occidental). A third railroad, called the 
Northern, is now in process of construction. 

The Southern Railroad, also called the Central, connects the 
Capital with the port of San Jose, and is 75 miles long. 



GUATEMALA. 


59 


The regular train leaves San Jose at 9.30 a. m., reaches Es¬ 
cuintla at 11.50, remains there thirty minutes, and arrives in Guat¬ 
emala at 4.40 p. m. This line is one of the best in Spanish Amer¬ 
ica, on account of its excellent construction, the good quality of 
its rolling stock, its first class service, and the beauty and good 
accommodations of its different stations, especially those of San 
Jose, Escuintla,. and Guatemala. 

This line is the principal means of transportation in the entire 
southern, central and western sections of the Republic. It be^ 
longs to an American company. The Western Railroad (Ferro- 
carril Occidental) is 41 miles long, and connects the port of 
C’hamperico with San Felipe. 

This road transports the greater part of the coffee of this very 
rich region, and all foreign merchandise introduced in the western 
departments. It is owned by native capitalists, and is projected 
to Quezaltenango. 

A branch of the Southern Railroad, from Escuintla to Patulul, 
is nearly finished. It will permit rapid communication between 
the Pacific and one of the most important agricultural zones of 
the department of Solola. 

A line is also in operation from the port of Iztapa to Naranjo 
station on the Central Railroad. 

The Northern Railroad, not yet finished, starts from Puerto 
Barrios and will end at Guatemala City. A section of this road, 
129 miles long, from Puerto Barrios to Rancho de San Agustin, 
has been opened to the public service. The work is also going on 
from the other end, at the Capital. This road, when connected 
with the Southern, will form an inter-oceanic line. It is being 
built by contract at the expense of the Government. When com¬ 
pleted Guatemala City will be but twelve days from Europe and 
only four days from the E T nited States. 

The Government encourages, by means of privileges, liberal 
subsidies, and otherwise, the construction of railroads in the 
country. 

A concession for the construction of a railroad in the depart¬ 
ment of San Marcos, between Ocos and Santa Catarina, and an¬ 
other for a line of either steam or electric cars from Tucuru to 
Panzos, both intended to facilitate commerce and agriculture, 




60 


GUATEMALA. 


have been granted by the Government. The last mentioned line 
will fill a long felt need, as it opens communication between Co¬ 
ban, a great commercial and agricultural center of the north, and 
the port of Livingston, which is connected with Panzos by a line 
of river steamers on the Polochic, the lake of Izabal, and the 
Dulce river. 

The project for running an electric line from Palin (on the 
Southern R. R.) to Chimaltenango, an exceedingly productive 
center, with a branch to Antigua, is under consideration. 

The preliminary surveys for the great Intercontinental Rail¬ 
way, which will connect from one end to the other the three 
Americas, have been completed in Guatemala. 

Roads and Stage Lines. 

The principal cities of each department are connected with each 
other, the Capital, and the ports, by means of wagon roads and 
stage lines. The most important of these roads are the follow¬ 
ing: 

From Guatemala to Quezaltenango; from Quezaltenango to 
San Marcos; from Quezaltenango to Retalhuleu; from El Rodeo 
to Ocos; from El Rodeo to Caballo Blanco; from Retalhuleu to 
Mazatenango; from Escuintla to Santa Lucia; from Guatemala 
to San Antonio; from Guatemala to La Antigua; from La An¬ 
tigua to Escuintla; from Guatemala to Mataquescuintla; from 
Coban to Panzos; from Chiquimula to Zacapa; from Zacapa to 
Gualan; from Guatemala to Jalapa; from Guatemala to San Jose 
de Guatemala. 

Some others are now in process of construction. 

For the construction and keeping in good repair of these 
roads each male inhabitant of the country (if foreign, after one 
year's residence) must contribute $2, or four days' work annually. 

There are stage lines between the Capital and Quezaltenango 
and Antigua; but taking the train to Palin (Southern R. R.) the 
traveler from the Capital would have a much shorter stage ride 
from that station to Antigua, as a road is about completed be¬ 
tween those two places. 

It is highly probable that at a not very distant day all the cities 
of importance will be connected by railroads. 


Chapter VII. 


POSTAL, TELEGRAPHIC AND TELEPHONIC SER¬ 
VICE. 


Postal Service. 

Guatemala joined the Universal Postal Union the ist of Au¬ 
gust, 1881. 

d he postal service of Guatemala is active and meets all modern 
exigencies. There are in the Republic 228 post offices. The ex¬ 
penses of this department in the year 1895 were $225,328.27. 

The rapid growth of the service can be shown by comparing 
the figures representing the total movement of postal matter in 
1871 with the present movement. The figures of 1871 were 
102,089, while the figures of 1893 were 9,106,712. 

The tariff for international postal service between Guatemala 
and any other country belonging to the Universal Postal Union 
is as follows: 

Ordinary letters of 15 grams or fraction, ten cents; business or 
printed papers, every 50 grams or fraction, two cents; samples, 
from 1 to 250 grams, ten cents; samples exceeding this weight 
pay letter postage. Registered letters have a fixed rate of fifteen 
cents over and above the ordinary postage. 

The rates of domestic postage are as follows: 

Letters, five cents for each 15 grams or fraction; printed matter, 
one cent for every 50 grams or fraction; packages, twelve and a 
half cents for every 250 grams or fraction; samples, if not weigh¬ 
ing over 250 grams, ten cents; if exceeding this limit, the same as 
packages. 

Packages to other Central American Republics pay twenty-five 
cents for every 250 grams or fraction. 



62 


GUATEMALA. 


Newspapers in Guatemala, and from Guatemala to other Cen¬ 
tral American countries, are free from postage. 

Postage on letters or printed matter, to be delivered in the same 

city or town, is at the rate of one cent per each ioo grams. 

# 

Telegraphic Service. 

The first telegraph line, between the Capital and San Jose, was 
opened on the 15th of March, 1873. On the 31st of December, 
1895, the length of the telegraphic lines in operation was 2,847 
miles. 

The service consists of 144 offices and 525 employes. 

The number of telegrams transmitted in 1895 was 722,807. 
The expenses of this service during the same year amounted to 
$307,680.89. 

The telegraphic rates are now as follows: 

Messages to any part of Guatemala, or to any Central Ameri¬ 
can Republic, twenty-five cents for the first five words, and 
twelve and a half cents for each additional five words. 

Submarine Cable. 

No direct communication by cable between Guatemala and the 
rest of the world existed before 1893. Cable messages had to be 
sent to La Libertad (Republic of Salvador) to be transmitted from 
there to their respective destinations. But on the 19th day of 
July, 1893, a cable having been laid by the Government at consid¬ 
erable expense, between the port of San Jose and the regular 
cable station, direct communication was established. 

The rates charged by the Central and South American Tele¬ 
graph Company, all payable in gold, are as follows: 

From San Jose de Guatemala, by way of Galveston, to the 
United States, fifty cents per word; to Great Britain, France, and 
Germany, seventy-five cents; to Austria-Hungary, eighty-four 
cents; to Switzerland and Belgium, eighty cents; to China, $2.46; 
to Denmark, eighty-five cents; to Egypt, $1.16; to Gibraltar, 
ninety-three cents; to Holland and Italy, eightv-two cents; to 
Japan, $3.36; to Norway, eighty-five cents; to Russia (in Europe), 
ninety-three cents; to Russia (in Asia), $1.38; to Spain, ninety 



GUATEMALA. 


63 


cents; to Turkey (in Europe), ninety-three cents; to Turkey (in 
Asia), $1.04. 

The rates for messages to the West Indies, Mexico, South and 
Central America, payable in silver, are as follows: 

To the Argentine Republic, $1.50 per word; to Bolivia, $1.85; 
to Brazil, $1.50; to Chile, $1.7°) to Ecuador, $1; to Uruguay, 
$1.65; to Paraguay, $1.65; to Peru, $1.85; to Colombia, from 
forty to eighty cents; to Costa Rica, twenty-five cents; to Hon¬ 
duras and Nicaragua, twenty cents; to Salvador, from fifteen to 
twenty cents; and to Mexico, thirty cents. 

Telephonic Service. 

0 

In the Capital and in Quezaltenango telephonic service, both 
inside the same cities and between them and the neighboring 
towns and plantations, has been established by private companies, 
to which the Government has granted many privileges. The rent 
for each machine is $5 per month, but six months rent must be 
paid in advance at the time of putting it in. 


Chapter VIII. 


GOVERNMENT EXPENSES.—GOVERNMENT RE¬ 


CEIPTS.—PUBLIC DEBT.—TAXATION. 

According to the report submitted in March, 1896, by the Sec¬ 
retary of the Treasury of Guatemala to the National Legislative 
Assembly, the expenses of the Government during the year 1895 
amounted to $15,515,081.23, out of which $1,795,344.66 were dis¬ 
bursed for the benefit of public instruction. The Department of 
Fomcnto expended $1,086,184.71, in addition to $900,000 which 
was paid to the Northern Railroad. About $6,000,000 were re¬ 
quired to attend to the service of the public debt and meet other 
obligations. 

The receipts during the same year amounted to $15,601,693.20. 
Out of this amount the Custom House yielded $8,765,456.66, 
the liquor and other monopolies $3,692,824.19, and general taxa- 
tion $2,053,834.31. 

The yieldings of the Custom House have been constantly in- 
creasing. 

The outstanding amount of the foreign debt (Deuda exterior), 
according to the last report (March, 1896) of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, was $11,492,500. This debt consists now of what is 
called “the 4 per cent, consolidated debt,” amounting to $8,000,- 
ooo, resulting from the unification of all debts standing in May, 
1895, and of what is called “The Muller & Thompson Loan,” 
amounting to $3,492,500. 

The outstanding amount of what is called Deuda interior (in¬ 
ternal or domestic debt), including capital and interest up to the 
date of the report above mentioned, was $5,209,253.19. This 
amount represents all Treasury notes, Central American Exhibi- 




School of Medicine, Guatemala City 
















GUATEMALA. 65 

tion bonds, judicial and other deposits, and all domestic loans 
and obligations of all classes. 

Under the law (December 16, 1895) all taxation in Guatemala 
ccnsists of the following: 

Customs, under the head of duties on imports, duties on ex¬ 
ports, reshipping dues, port dues, and storage dues. 

Monopolies, under the head of licenses for the sale of aguardiente 
by wholesale, licenses for the sale of liquor by retail, licenses for 
the manufacture and sale of chicha, licenses for the sale of cigars 
by wholesale, licenses for the sale of cigars by retail, licenses for 
deposit and storage of cigars, licenses for the sale of gunpowder, 
licenses for the sale of saltpeter, licenses for the sale of cartridges. 

Ordinary taxes, under the head of stamped paper, Government 
stamps, stamps on commercial books and documents, tax on real 
estate, military contribution, contribution for building and repair¬ 
ing roads, tax on inheritances and gifts or donations, tax on trans¬ 
fer: of real estate by purchase or exchange, tax on slaughter 
houses, and tax on salt. 

In addition to the above sources of revenue there are the fol¬ 
lowing: 

Government fees to be oaid in sales of public lands, interest 
saved by redeeming censos (a kind of mortgage similar to the 
ground rents of the United States of America), pension fund, fees 
for the concession of patents of invention, exemption from ren¬ 
dering personal service, fines, and “extraordinary revenue. ’ 

The tariff of Guatemala, in force ever since January 1st, 1894, 
amended and supplemented on December 23d, 1895, contains 
3.000 items, distributed under fifteen headings, as follows: 

I. Forbidden articles. This section embraces fourteen items, 
namely: Apparatus for coining money; fire arms, breech-loading 
or repeating, of calibers .58, .50, -44> an d -431 balls and bullets 
(iron or lead), bombs, grenades, and all other projectiles of war. 
Q2X. nons and pieces of artillery; carbines, rifles, 01 muskets of the 
class used by the National army; cartridges for rifles, fowling- 
pieces, and revolvers of all kinds and calibers; gunpowder of all 
classes; counterfeited money; nitrate of potash or saltpeter, in 
quantities exceeding 10 kilograms; nitroglycerine and dynamite, 
prints, engravings, books, or objects, obscene and contrary to 


66 


GUATEMALA. 


morals and good customs; rifles, Evans, Winchester, or Reming¬ 
ton; tobacco leaf; whistles of the kind used by the police. 

II. Free list, embracing 127 items, as follows: 

Advertisements, printed, lithographed, or engraved on paper or 
pasteboard, without frame, provided that they are not intended 
for any other particular use. 

Alphabets, wooden, of all classes, for schools. 

Anchors and hauling lines. 

Animals, live. 

Animals, stuffed, prepared for cabinets of natural history. 

Apparatus for the fabrication of gas lighting. 

Apparatus, electrical, except the chemical substances used in 
the same, which are dutiable. 

Apparatus and engines to put out fires (fire engines and appur¬ 
tenances). 

Areometers. 

Argil, sand, or fine sand in natural state. 

Articles imported by the Government, or the municipalities, 
for public service, or the service of charitable institutions. 

Articles imported by the President of the Republic for his own 
use. 

Articles imported by foreign ministers residing in the Republic, 
when for their own use or the use of their families, in quantities 
proportionate to the ordinary use, provided that the privilege is 
reciprocal and that the rules made on the subject are duly com¬ 
plied with. Secretaries of legations, consuls, and vice-consuls do 
not enjoy this privilege. 

Asbestos, in fiber, or plate, in natural state. 

Bags, empty, ordinary, of jute, pita, henequen, or manilla hemp, 
for exporting products of the country. 

Baggage of passengers, the term being understood to mean 
articles of clothing and apparel for the individual use of the pas¬ 
senger, and such instruments, already used, as are indispensable 
for his art and trade, said articles and instruments in proportion¬ 
ate quantity; and manufactured tobacco in quantity not exceeding 
half a kilogram per person. 

Bank notes. 

Barometers. 





GUATEMALA. 


67 


Batteries (galvanic) and their pieces (salts and acids excluded), 
of all systems or authors. 

Beans. 

Boats, tackle, sails, chains, oars, and other equipments for ves¬ 
sels, for use in the ports, canals, rivers, and lakes of the Republic. 

Books, printed, paper covered. 

Bricks, fire, for foundry furnaces. 

Buildings, frame or iron, complete. 

Buoys of iron, with the apparatus to put them in their proper 
place. 

Cable of iron or steel wire, of all thicknesses. 

Capsules of porcelain or glass for chemical or pharmaceutical 
uses. 

Carbons for galvanic batteries. 

Case? of mathematical instruments and for blow pipe assays. 

Catalogues of all classes, paper covered. 

Cement, Roman, common lime, and hydraulic lime 

Charts, geographical, topographical, and nautical. 

Closets, inodorous, of all classes, except the piping thereof. 

Coal, animal coal and charcoal, except when pulverized. 

Codfish, or any other fish, dried, salted, or smoked, in barrels 
or other wooden containers. 

Coke. 

Collections, numismatic, geological, or of natural history, for 
museums and cabinets. 

Compasses, mariners’, of all classes. 

Copy books, of samples for drawing, penmanship, or embroid¬ 
ery. 

Cork, in plates, or unmanufactured. 

Crucibles of all kinds and cupels. 

Crystal, rock, not manufactured. 

Cultures, or bacteriological preparations. 

Drawings, patterns, and models, whether paper or pasteboard, 
for the arts. 

Emery, in powder or in grain. 

Engravings, made by Guatemalan artists residing abroad, their 
authenticity being proved, without frame. 

Felt, for roofs. 




68 


GUATEMALA. 


Filters, of all classes, not specified, intended for domestic pur¬ 
poses. 

Filters, Pasteur. -«? 

Filters of compressed coal. 

Fragments of wrecked vessels. 

Fruits, fresh. 

Furnaces and other instruments of clay or graphite, for assays 
of metals. 

Glasses, graduated, and probetas, whether graduated or not. 
Glasses, plate, of all colors and sizes. 

Globes, glass, for electric incandescent light. 

Globes, terrestrial and celestial. 

Grama. 

Grass, broom grass, or Spanish broom (Esparto). 

Gold and silver, in bullion, in dust, and coined. 

Guano, and all other natural or artificial fertilizers. 

Guides (guias), or fuses for mines. 

Hay, and all other forage, not specified. 

Hides, not tanned. 

Ink, printing. 

Instruments (scientific), not specified. 

Iron, in ingots or forged in bars, plates and square rods. 

Lard. 

Lightning rods. 

Lights, for light houses or harbor lights. 

Liquor (organic), Brown-Sequard’s formula, for hypodermic 
injections, and liquors similar thereto. 

Locomotives, wagons, cars, implements, and other railroad ma¬ 
terial. 

Lumber, unmanufactured, in logs. 

Machinery, electrical, and electrical batteries, not charged, to 
be used in the public service. 

Magnet, native loadstone, or magnetized steel. 

Maize. 

Meats, smoked or salted. 

Models for machines and buildings. 

Molds, for making artificial flowers. 

Newspapers, single numbers. 



69 


GUATEMALA. 


Oakum, for ships. 

Oleic, acid, impure, for making soap. 

Packings or wrappings, common, when the articles covered or 
protected by them are not appraised on the gross weight. In 
bundles or bales the wrapping cloth, oiled cloth, side boards and 
straps shall be considered as falling under the provisions of this 
item. The same will be the case with the zinc or tin lining, card¬ 
board, paper and casings, when not expressly assessed, and other 
articles dutiable under the present tariff shall not be deemed to 
be wrappings. 

Palm leaf, for the manufacture of hats. 

Papier mache, for building purposes. 

Patterns and samples for drawings, penmanship, and embroid¬ 
ery. 

Peas ( guisantes ). 

Pease ( garbanzos ). 

Petroleum, crude. 

Photographs, or views of the country, without frames. 

Pitch, prepared, for ships. 

Plants, alive. 

Platinum, in bars or pieces, and in dust. 

Plows of all kinds and the parts thereof, loose. 

Porte-reactives, or portable pocket cases for chemical re-agents 
(porta-reactivos ). 

Portraits of persons residing in the country, without frames. 

Potatoes, and all other similar alimentary roots. 

Presses, printing and lithographing. 

Pulp, wooden; rags, scraps, ravelling, and other refuse material 
for manufacturing paper. 

Pumps, iron, of all classes. 

Pus, vaccination, or cow-pox. 

Ouicksilver. 

Rakes, for agricultural purposes. 

Refuse, mineral ( brozas miner ales). 

Rice, in grain. 

Samples without commercial value, and those having some 
commercial value, if the duty to be levied on them does not ex¬ 
ceed $i. 


70 


GUATEMALA. 


Seeds, of flowers, vegetables, and others not specified. 

Shovels (wooden), for agricultural purposes. 

“Sov,” or Japanese sauce. 

Slates, or imitation thereof, for schools. 

Slates, for roofing purposes. 

Spatulas and spoons, and bars or rods of glass or porcelain to 
stir up corrosive liquids. 

Stearine, in cakes. 

Stills, metallic, holding less than half a gallon, for chemical op¬ 
erations. 

Stones, grinding. 

Stones, natural, of all kinds, not polished, for industries and 
manufactures, not specified. 

Stones, precious, and fine pearls, not mounted. 

Sulphur, native, in lumps. 

Tallow, in masses or cakes, and melted. 

Tar, of coal. 

Thermometers. 

Tiles, wooden or shingles, clay or glass, for roofing purposes. 
Types, printing. 

Vegetables, fresh. 

Virus (diluted), as the antidiptheric serum of Dr. Roeux, anti- 
rabic of Dr. Pasteur, and other diluted bacteriological prepara¬ 
tions. 

Wire, iron, galvanized, or copper, isolated, intended for elec¬ 
trical transmission. 

Wire, iron, galvanized, smooth or barbed, for fencing purposes, 
and fasteners and stretchers therefor. 

III. Cotton goods. 

IV. Linen goods. 

V. Woolen goods. 

VI. Silk goods. 

VII. Iron articles. 

VIII. Articles of copper, lead, tin, and their alloys. 

IX. Articles of zvood and zvood and iron. 

X. Hides, skins, leathers, manufactures thereof. 

XI. Pottery, crockery, and glasszvare, 

XII. Miscellaneous articles. ■ , 




GUATEMALA. 


71 


XIII. Paper, manufactures of paper, pasteboard, and stationery. 

XIV. Wines, liquors, and feeding articles. 

XV. Drugs, medicines, and articles pertaining thereto. 

Articles under headings from III to XV pay duties according 

to the weight (in most cases gross weight), except only in some 
instances of manufactured articles in which the duties are charged 
per piece. 

A translation into English of the Guatemalan Tariff was pub¬ 
lished by the Bureau of American Republics in the month of 
June, 1894. 


Chapter IX. 


COMMERCE.— NAVIGATION.— STATISTICS OF IM¬ 
PORTS AND EXPORTS.—PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES 
TRADING WITH GUATEMALA. 

The increase of comercial business in the country is very nota¬ 
ble. At the present time more is done in one year than in half 
a score twenty years ago. 

The total imports of 1851 were estimated at $1,403,884. Twenty 
years later, in 1871, they were to the amount of $2,403,503. 
Twenty years still later, in 1891, they went up to $7,806,730. In 
1893 the value of the imports was $6,383,834; and in 1894, $6,- 
937,000. 

The total exports in 1890 amounted to $14,401,534; in 1892, 
to $14,869,324; in 1893, to $19,087,000, and in 1894, to $20,324,- 
000. 

The movement of vessels in the ports of the Republic has been 
in keeping with this increase. In 1892 157 steamers and 14 sail¬ 
ing vessels anchored at San Jose; 151 steamers and 12 sailing 
vessels at Champerico; 55 steamers and 7 sailing vessels at Ocos; 
and 78 steamers and 9 sailing vessels at Livingston. 

The total was 441 steamers and 42 sailing vessels. 

The figures for 1893 were 468 steamers and 32 sailing vessels. 

Of these vessels 378 carried the flag of the United States, 55 
were from Germany, 47 from England and 20 from Norway. 

For the year 1894 the increase was considerable, undoubtedly 
owing to the superior advantages that Puerto Barrios presents 
with : ts excellent position and splendid wharf and now gener¬ 
ally admitted to be the most favorable port. 



University and National Institute, Guatemala City 



















GUATEMALA. 


7 ) 


The principal imports into Guatemala in 1893 were as follows: 

Cotton goods for nearly $1,600,000; silver coin to the amount 
oi $1,059,134; iron and its manufactures for over $500,000; flour 
to the amount of $300,717.38; drugs and medicines for $153,- 
187.17; preserved meats, fruits, cheese, confectionery, etc., for 
about $200,000; woolen goods for $135,113.73; machinery for 
nearly $200,000; silk goods for $101,339.38; spirituous liquors, 
aguardiente , cognac, whiskey, etc., for $135,075.33; beer for 
$102,218.38; wines and cordials for $274,669.61; and toys and 
other fancy and variety articles for over $150,000. 

Other imports of less importance were: 

Oil; barbed wire ($46,130); arms; carpets; matting; photo¬ 
graphic articles and supplies; fertilizers; sugar (for only $5,104); 
mineral waters; indigo (for $1,302); shoes (for nearly $21,000); 
cinnamon and spices; carts, wagons, and carriages; barley (for 
$25,824.93); white wax; cacao; glassware (for over $27,000); ce¬ 
ment; chromos; manufactured copper; coal; stearine, in candles 
and unmanufactured; matches; live animals (oxen, horses, mules); 
India rubber goods; printed books; musical, scientific and other 
instruments; jewelry; crockery; zinc plates; lumber and timber 
for building purposes (for nearly $75,000); railroad material (for 
about $67,000); telegraphic and electric light material (for 
nearly $65,000); lard (for $9,228.72); marble (for $16,939.51); 
school supplies and supplies for charitable institutions; gold coin 
(only to the amount of $10,000); doors and windows; umbrellas 
and parasols; paper and manufactures thereof; stationery; pota¬ 
toes, rice, maize, etc., (for over $72,000); petroleum ($30,636.40); 
pianos ($14,716.55); tanned skins (for over $32,000); perfumery 
(for $14,360.29); live plants; common salt; bags for the trans¬ 
portation of grains ($61,079.28); hats; saddles; tallow; tobacco; 
roofs and iron pipes ($32,948.06); wheat ($14,308.79); tea; and 
plate and window glass. 

The nations from which the articles imported into Guatemala 
in 1893 proceeded were the following: 

1. The United States of America, 365,312 bundles or packages, 
representing a value of $1,517,165.29. 

2. Great Britain, 52,101 bundles or packages, $1,472,178.10. 

3. Germany, 82.803 packages, $1,278,205.35. 


74 


GUATEMALA. 


4. France, 40,743 bundles, $771. 

5. Spain, 6,768 bundles, $124,435.94. 

6. Italy, 4,264 bundles, $48,787.64. 

7. Belgium, 2,578 packages, $31,404.79. 

8. Switzerland, 1,331 packages, $6,970.90. 

9. Holland, 6 bundles, $125.80. 

10. Austria, 49 bundles, $1,117.04. 

11. Spanish-AmeriCan countries, including Mexico (6,414 
bundles, $20,963.64); the other Republics of Central America (2,- 
354 bundles, $88,092.71) ; Havana (13 bundles, $256.66); and all 
other countries of South America (10,582 bundles, estimated at 
$1,112,219.67). This sum includes silver coin from South Amer¬ 
ica to the amount of $983,434.36. China sent 165 packages es¬ 
timated at $19,099.48. 

The principal articles imported into Guatemala from the 
United States of America in 1893 were: 


Flour. $293,79458 

Manufactured iron . 113,427.41 

Iron in bars, plates, and nails. 12,198.41 

Preserved meats and other alimentary articles 90,376.87 

Cotton goods . 61,061.74 

Drugs and medicines. 4*323-93 

Machinery . 108,000.00 

Timber for building purposes. 70,658.00 

Potatoes, maize, and beans. 69,207.00 

Stationery . 20,412.00 

Household furniture. 21,821.00 

Wheat . 14,308.00 

Whiskey . 34,522.00 


The principal articles imported from Great Britain in 1893 
were: 


Cotton goods . $970,052.50 

Preserved meats and other alimentary articles 25,613.92 

Drugs and medicines. 23,620.76 

Manufactured iron . 72,966.76 

Iron in bars, plates, etc. 28,086.71 

Wool and woolen goods . 29,983.01 

Machinery . 95,000.00 

Bags for grains . 21,000.00 


The principal articles sent from Germany were: 


Cotton goods . $301,387.00 

Manufactured iron . 189,759.00 

Iron in bars, plates, and nails. 37,537.0c 
























GUATEMALA. 


75 


Wool and woolen goods. 

Haberdashery and fancy articles . . 

Paper and paper articles. 

Bags for grains . 

Beer. 

Canned meats and articles for food 
Household furniture. 


56,687.00 

52,491.00 

27,706.00 

26,713.00 

50,487.00 

37,583-00 

20,000.00 


The principal articles inported from France into Guatemala 
in 1893 were: 


Cotton goods . $156,231.00 

Fine brandies . 74,192.00 

Preserves . 24,952.00 

Drugs and medicines. 49,142.00 

Wool and woolen goods . 26,639.00 

Haberdashery and fancy articles. 59,470.00 

Wines and liquors. 99,235.00 


' Exports. 

Coffee is the principal article of export. The following figures 
will show the increase of the Guatemalan coffee trade from 1886 
to 1893: 


Value exported in 1886. $5,827,264.74 

Value exported in 1887. 8,137,478.53 

Value exported in 1889. 12,704.948.15 

Value exported in 1890. 12,714,981.00 

Value exported in 1891. 13,112,379.50 

Value exported in 1892. 13,765,983.84 

Value exported in 1893. 18,550,518.73 


No official statistics subsequent to 1893 are at hand, but there 
is no doubt that the increase in the value of these exports goes on 
steadily. 

Hides are also an article of export worthy to be considered. 
In 1893 their exportation amounted to $133,541.94. 

An article of export of scarcely less importance is the sugar. 
Guatemala exported this article to the amount of $41,065.10 in 
1880. Thirteen years later, in 1893, the exports went up to $105,- 
223.20. 

India ruber, or caoutchouc, is exported in comparatively large 
quantities. The exports amounted to $112,978 in 1886, and to 
$126,935.20 in 1892. 

The facility with which the banana plant is cultivated on the 
Atlantic coast of the Republic, the comparatively small capital 



























76 


GUATEMALA. 


necessary for this business, the prompt returns of the same, and 
the growing demand for this fruit in the United States have com¬ 
bined to make banana growing very popular. In 1889 110,222 
bunches, estimated at $44,088.80 were shipped from Guatemala; 
in 1892 these figures were increased to 996,854 bunches, esti¬ 
mated at $389,741.60. 

The following table gives the itemized exports for 1893: 


Articles. Quintals Amount. 

(100 pounds.) 


Stuffed animals.. 


$9.50 

Indigo . 


310.00 

Leather . 

237.72 

14,738.64 

Bananas . 


178,113.25 

Silver (in bars) . 

26.73 

21,384.00 

Cacao. 


8,661.50 

Coffee . 

598,403.83 

18,550,518.73 

Shoes . 

1.83 

300.00 

Cocoanuts . 


567.01 

Tortoise shell . 

6.53 

130.36 

Deer skins ... 


16,444.00 

India rubber. 

777.96 

38,898.00 

Statues. 


504.13 

Lumber . 

1,127.64 

1,203.52 

Silver coin. 


1,149,901.64 

Hides (ox) . 

9 , 538.71 

133 , 541.94 

Live plants . 

170.15 

395-17 

Pineapples .. 


15-00 

Peruvian bark. 


3 - 740.10 

Sarsaparilla . 


988.00 

Sundrv merchandise. 

7 , 593-88 

9,675 14 

Muscavado . 

143-70 

862.20 

Sugar . 


105,223.20 

Wild boar skins. 

2.65 

132.50 

Iguana skins . 


3.12 

Tiger skins . 

0.31 

2325 

Total . 

629.231.48G $20,236,784.44 







































Chapter X. 


BANKS.—CREDIT.—INSURANCE.—MONETARY SYS¬ 
TEM.—VALUE OF FOREIGN COINS.—WEIGHTS 
AND MEASURES. 

I 

There are in the country six banks authorized to issue paper, 
besides numerous commercial houses which do banking business. 

The International Bank of Guatemala ( Banco International de 
Guatemala) is a joint stock company with a capital stock of 
$3,000,000, divided into 1,000 shares. 

The Columbian Bank ( Banco Colombiano) has a paid up capital 
of $1,634,000. 

The Western Bank ( Banco de Occidente), a joint stock company 
with a capital stock of $2,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares of 
$100, quoted at 145. 

The Comercial Bank of Guatemala {Banco Comerciai de Guate¬ 
mala), a joint stock company, with a capital stock of $5,000,000, 
divided into shares of $4,000 each. 

The American Bank {Banco Americano) , also a joint stock com¬ 
pany, organized in 1895. 

The Guatemala Bank {Banco de Guatemala), a joint stock com¬ 
pany, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, which may be increased 
up to $16,000,000, divided into shares of $1,000 each. It is auth¬ 
orized to receive public funds in deposit. The maximum inter¬ 
est which it may charge on loans is 9% per annum. 

All these banks, with the exception of the Western Bank, are 
established in the capital, and have branches or agencies in the 
principal towns. The Western Bank has a branch in Guatemala 
City. 

The usual rate of discount is 12%. Their notes are admitted at 


78 


GUATEMALA. 


par with coin and are preferred to it, as they can be sent without 
difficulty to any part of the country. 

Not less than fifteen insurance companies, all of them foreign, 
have their regularly established agencies in the Republic. All 
branches of insurance—life, fire, accident, maritime, etc.—are 
represented by them. 

The monetary unit of the Republic is the silver peso, with 25 
grams of silver, of 0.900 fineness. The peso is divided into 100 
centavos. 

The coins are: The peso, the medio peso (half a peso), the piece 
of 25 centavos, the piece of 10 centavos, and the piece of 5 
centavos. 

There are also gold coins, as follows: The piece of 5 pesos, 
weighing gr. 8.75, the piece of 2 pesos, 50 centavos, and the piece 
of 1 peso. 

There are also pieces made out of an alloy of 95 per cent cop¬ 
per and 5 per cent nickel, of the value of 1 centavo each. 

There is a mint at the capital of the Republic, and all private 
persons can go there and have their gold or silver bullion coined, 
upon the payment of 1 per cent in the case of gold, and 3 per 
cent in the case of silver. 

Foreign coins are allowed legal circulation in the Republic on 
the following basis: 


Gold Coins. 


United States $20.00 piece .$20.00 

United States $10.00 piece . 10.00 

United States $5.00 piece . 5.00 

United States $2.50 piece . 2.50 

United States dollar. 1.00 

English pound sterling . 5.00 

English half pound sterling. 2.50 

French, Italian, Belgian and Swiss 20 francs... 4.00 

French, Italian, Belgian and Swiss 10 francs. 2.00 

French, Italian, Belgian, and Swiss 5 francs. 1.00 

German 20 reichsmark piece. 4.92 

Spanish and Mexican onzas . 16.00 

Spanish and Mexican medias onzas. 8.00 

Spanish and Mexican doblones de a cuatro. 4.00 

Spanish and Mexican escudos . 2.00 

Spanish and Mexican medio escudos . 1.00 

Spanish centenes . 5 00 

Spanish medio centenes .<. 2 Ko 


Peruvian. Colombian. Venezuelan or Chilean $5 pieces 





















GUATEMALA. 


79 


Silver Coins. 


United States dollar . 

United States fifty cent piece. 

United States quarters. 

United States dimes . 

United States half dimes. 

French, Italian, Belgian cr Swiss 5 franc piece, 

Spanish peso fuerte . 

Mexican, Chilean, Peruvian or Venezuelan peso 
Mexican 50 cent piece. 

The rate of exchange in London, in November, 1895, was 103 
per cent. 

The French decimal metrical system is now used in the Re¬ 
public. Before its adoption the old Spanish system of weights 
and measures prevailed: 

Quintal (100 pounds), Arroba (25 pounds), Libra (1 pound), 
Onza (ounce), Tonelada (ton) of 20 quintals, Fanega is a measure 
of capacity equivalent to i-J imperial bushels. 

AGRICULTURE AND STOCK RAISING. 

Agriculture, which constitutes in Guatemala the principal 
source of its wealth, has attained considerable development, and 
gives every day new evidence of progress. Nature seems to have 
done on her part all that possibly could be done in this respect 
for the prosperity of the Republic. The intertropical situation 
of the country, and the diversity of its altitudes and climates, al¬ 
low the plants of the tropics to grow luxuriously almost within 
sight of the richest productions of the temperate zone; and sugar 
cane and cacao and coffee and bananas are seen to thrive at a 
short distance from the places where crops of wheat and barley 
and oats are gathered abundantly. 

There are localities in which two or three crops of maize can 
be raised, and none in which the necessity of fertilizers has yet 
been felt. 

It may be said, without fear of committing an error, that the 
only thing to be carefully attended to in Guatemala in order to 
secure the success of any agricultural undertaking consists mere- 
lv in the proper selection of the ground and its intelligent adapt¬ 
ation to the cultivation for which it is intended. 


$1.00 

•50 

• 2 5 

.10 

•05 

1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
•50 











GUATEMALA. 


80 

Coffee, up to this time, has absorbed almost exclusively the 
whole attention of the Guatemalan people, and the high prices it 
commands in the markets of Europe and of the United States of 
America fully justify this preference. But cereals and other pro¬ 
ducts are cultivated with profit, and may become in time an ele¬ 
ment of great value in the wealth of the country. 


Coffee. 

The production of coffee in Guatemala has been constantly in¬ 
creasing. The plantations improve and increase in number 
every year and will no doubt continue to do so as long as the 
quality of the coffee is acknowledged to be superior, and the 
great demand for it maintained. 

The following table shows the production of coffee in every 
department of the Republic for the years 1888 and 1891: 


Departments. 

1888. 

1891. 


Pounds. 

Pounds. 

Guatemala . 

. 271,800 

389.200 

Amatitlan . 

. 2,366,500 

2,589,100 

Escuintla .. 

. 3,482,400 

3,882,700 * 

Sacatepequez. 

. 3 , 578,700 

5,112,700 

Chimaltenango . 

.2,353,500 

4,544,900 

Solola . 

.4,382,800 

4,029,300 

Suchitepequez. 

. 7 , 95 i, 6 oo 

4,896,800 

Retalhuleu. 


4,001,600 

Quezaltenango. 

. 13 . 937,300 

11,697,300 

San Marcos. 


9,692,800 

Huehuetenango . 

. 1,848.400 

237,400 

Baja Verapaz . 

. 115,400 

399,600 

Alta Verapaz. 

. 1,655.800 

3,310,000 

Peten. 

. 13,000 

14.800 

Zacapa . 

. 73*200 

155,000 

Chiquimula . 

. 359,400 

580,900 

Talapa . 

. 13,300 

3 B 400 

Tutiapa . 

. 9-500 

64,100 

Santa Rosa .. 

. 304.800 

4,029,200 

Total . 


59,447,800 


In 1892 the area of land devoted to the cultivation of coffee 
was 964 cdballertas and 34 mansanas , or 43,417 hectares, 43 areas 
and 35 centiareas. 

The number of coffee trees in the same year was 64,186,924, 






























Pier at Puerto Barrios 




















GUATEMALA. 


81 


and the crop 24,223,248 in pergamino, and 12,776,216 of the coffee 
called oro. 

Coffee in pergamino is the grain of coffee after the red pulp, 
which gives to it the appearance of a cherry, has been removed, 
but still retaining the inner white or yellow parchment-like cov¬ 
ering. 

Coffee in oro is the grain of coffee after the above parchment¬ 
like covering has been removed. 

The principal coffee regions are as follows: 

The municipal districts of Colomba, Palmar and Nuevo San 
Carlos, in the department of Quezaltenango; Tumbador, San 
Fablo y San Cristobal Cucho, and El Progreso, in the depart¬ 
ment of San Marcos; all the districts of Suchitepequez; Pochuta, 
Yepocapa and Acatenango, in the department of Chimaltenango; 
Barberena, in that of Santa Rosa; San Felipe and Pueblo Nuevo, 
in that of Retalhuleu; Uhicacao ,Santa Barbara and Patulul, in 
that of Solola; Escuintla and Santa Lucia Cotsumalguapa, in that 
of Escuintla; Antigua and Ciudad Vieja, in that of Sacatapequez; 
San Miguel Petapa, Villanueva and Amatitlan in that of Amati- 
tlan; all the districts of Guatemala; Carcha, Coban, Lanquin, and 
Senahu, in the department of Alta Verapaz; Gualan and Zacapa, 
in that of Zacapa; and Purulha, in that of Baja Verapaz. 

The best conditions for the cultivation of coffee are: An alti¬ 
tude between 2,600 and 4,500 feet above the level of the sea; 
a considerable depth in the humus or vegetable soil; and a clay 
subsoil. Lands with these requirements are abundant in the 
districts above named. 

The temperature best suited to the healthy growth and abund¬ 
ant production of the plant in Guatemala is between 6o° and 90° 
Fahrenheit, the former being rather too cool and the latter too 
warm for the best results. In the lands whose altitude is from 
1,500 to 2,000 feet, and where the ruling temperature approaches 
the latter limit, the young plants must be shaded, in new planta¬ 
tions, by tall and rapidly growing plants, otherwise their growth 
is unhealthy, as is betrayed by the small size and yellowish ap¬ 
pearance of the leaves. 

For the purpose of shading the young trees, the banana is very 
generally emploved, as it not only affords abundant shade, but 





82 


GUA1EMALA. 


produces paying crops of its own. After one or two seasons' 
growth the coffee plants need no further extraneous shade. 

In districts whose mean altitude is 4,500 feet, plantations must 
be sheltered from the cold north winds, which, during December, 
January and February, blow almost continuously, and destroy 
plantations exposed to their full force. A range of hills to the 
north of and overlooking the plantation is the best natural pro¬ 
tection that can be found; but in the absence of this, it is custom¬ 
ary, when the mercury at night falls to 6o°, to burn heaps of rub¬ 
bish mixed with pitch on the north side of the plantation, and 
the dense smoke, drifting over and through the rows of trees, 
furnishes complete protection from the effects of the cold. 

The coffee plantsare raised in nurseries, to be afterwards trans¬ 
planted to their permanent place. 

The critical season for the future crop is the blooming period. 
A heavy rainfall, while the trees are in flower, will seriously dam¬ 
age the plants, washing away the pollen and thus preventing 
fructification. This period lasts three or four days, when the 
blossoms fall and the “cherry/' as it is called, begins to appear. 
This “cherry” reaches maturity in October, and is ready for 
gathering and “pulping,” that is, for the removal of the outer 
shell and pulp, after which it is washed and carried to dry, spread 
out in brick paved yards exposed to the sun. 

Cacao. 

The celebrated cacao, called of Soconusco, known to-day un¬ 
der the name of Guatemalan cacao, is claimed to be the best in 
the world, and is a natural product of the country, but it is little 
used in the United States and Europe because it is cultivated to 
such a small extent that the production is scarcely sufficient for 
the consumption of the country. The best conditions for this 
cultivation, which would prove to be a considerable source of 
wealth were it properly managed, are found especially in the 
tierra caliente districts. These conditions are an altitude of 800 
to 2,000 feet above the level of the sea, and a soil rich in humus 
and capable to be irrigated. The number of cacao trees in 1892 
was 1,005,071, and the crop about six million pounds. 

No crop can be obtained, as a general rule, before six years 


GUATEMALA. 


83 

subsequent to the final planting of the young trees. When the 
ground is first class and all proper care has been taken, the first 
crop can be raised in four years. 

The gathering and hauling of the cacao beans require neither 
machinery nor any great number of laborers. Care must be tak¬ 
en only in not hurting the bean or almond when breaking the 
fruit wherein they are contained. One day of “fermentation” 
must then be given to them, after which they must remain ex¬ 
posed to the sun for six or eight days, at the end of which they 
are ready to be sent to the market. 

India Rubber. 

The India rubber tree grows wild in Guatemala, but the num¬ 
ber of people who take advantage of it is very small. Its culti¬ 
vation on a large scale, and the improved methods for the ex¬ 
traction of its juice and the preparation of the rubber, would 
render this industry extremely profitable. About 400,000 pounds 
of India rubber are gathered annually and exported. 

T obacco. 

Tobacco is also very abundant and of a superior quality, but 
the production is limited. It grows well at an altitude of 1,000 
to 1,800 feet above the level of the sea and at a temperature of 
between 63° and 8i° Fahrenheit. Even for exportation the cul¬ 
tivation of tobacco could be profitably undertaken on an exten¬ 
sive scale. 

Sugar Cane. 

The sugar cane of Guatemala is of an excellent quality and 
grows abundantly. Although there are several important planta¬ 
tions the cultivation and the manufacture of its various products 
could still be increased considerably. Lands offering the most 
favorable conditions for this cultivation can be easily obtained in 
the departments of Escuintla, Amatitlan, and Baja Verapaz. 

Cereals. 

Cereals, such as wheat, maize, rice, etc., are cultivated only to 
a certain extent, not sufficient even for home consumption. The 


84 


GUATEMALA. 


cultivation of wheat, particularly, could be greatly increased, for 
immense tracts of land still untilled are well adapted to it. This 
accounts for the small amount of the actual crops (the last one 
amounted to 73,070 fanegas or 4,566,875 kilograms) and the ne¬ 
cessity of importing every year from the United States between 
four and five millions kilograms (11,000,000 pounds) of flour, 
and 200,000 kilograms (440,000 pounds) of wheat. The Guate¬ 
malan wheat is, nevertheless, superior to all imported. 

Grapes, Fruits, and Other Crops. 

An attempt has been made of late to cultivate grapes and make 
wine in Guatemala.' The country abounds in lands capable in all 
respects to make this undertaking a success. 

The country is also admirably adapted for the cultivation of 
fruits of all kinds. Up to the present time, commercially at least, 
bananas have only been given preference. 

Rice, maize, beans, potatoes, barley, and oats are grown easily, 
and yield considerably. They sell at high prices, and have to be 
imported in large quantities. 

Ramie, henequen, several varieties of the cinchona tree, spice 
trees of different descriptions, the tea plant, and many kinds of 
medicinal and industrial plants can be also cultivated in Guate¬ 
mala, without difficulty and with great advantage. 

Cattle Raising. 

Cattle raising constitutes in Guatemala a great source of 
wealth. Lands provided with the best possible accommodations 
for that purpose are found everywhere, and the work of the man 
who engages in this industry may be said to be reduced, after the 
cattle is brought to the place, merely to build fences and keep 
them in good order. 

The Guia del immigrante en la Republica de Guatemala, speaking 
on this subject, says as follows: 

“This industry is carried on with success, owing to the great consump¬ 
tion of meat and the aid given by the Government. There are abundant 
well-watered lands in the Republic suitable for this purpose, only requir¬ 
ing fencing to make them a very profitable investment. Cured and salted 
meats may become an important article of export. 




GUATEMALA. 


85 


“Statistics for the year 1892 show the following: 

“Cattle: Calves, 86,452; bulls, 43,860; oxen, 30,255; cows, 134,959. The 
prices of these animals are good, generally ranging from $10 to $20 for a 
calf, and a milch cow is worth from $40 to $100, while a good yoke of oxen 
brings from $100 to $200; of horses there were 61,593, the ordinary ones 
selling from $50 to $200, and the better breed from $300 to $1,000; the 
number of mules was 28,724, from $100 up; 1,700 asses, from $100 up; 
sheep, 288,760 head, from $2 to $6; 63,670 swine, from $10 apiece to $60 
“The consumption of these animals for the year 1892, in the Republic, 
was: 76,795 head of cattle, 9,533 head of sheep, and 86,092 swine; it being 
calculated that the value of these reached $4,016,701. 

“This industry has a splendid future; the demand at present exceeds the 
supply, stock being brought from the neighboring republics.” 

Horse breeding can also be made a very profitable industry. 
According to the last official statistics, which were at hand in 
1896 when the above quoted Guia was published, there were in 
the Republic 49,000 horses, 47,000 mares, 21,000 colts; 2,700 
donkeys, and 42,000 mules, of all ages. 

The importation of horses and mares from the United States 
of America, and occasionally from Spain, England, and even 
Arabia, and their use for breeding purposes, have been accom¬ 
panied, as usual, with wonderful results. The native horse is 
small, but strong and almost indefatigable. The race horses and 
all others obtained through the crossing with foreign breeds 
while possessing the qualities of the latter, retain the merits of the 
native race. 

LEGISLATION TO ENCOURAGE AND PROMOTE 

AGRICULTURE. 

Among the many measures which have been taken in Guate¬ 
mala for the purpose of promoting agriculture, there are some 
relating to the disposition, either by sale or gratuitous grant, of 
the vacant lands of the Republic; while others refer especially to 

privileges or concessions to cultivators. 

The so-called “Agrarian Law” (Ley Agraria), enacted in 1894, 
provided for the sale, lease and gratuitous concession of the pub¬ 
lic lands, and created a Board of Government Engineers, entrust¬ 
ed with the duty of surveying the said lands, and dividing them 
into lots of not more than 15 caballcrias each.* 


>Thc Guatemala caballeria is equivalent to ii 3§4 acres. 






86 


GUATEMALA. 


Land Grants. 

These lots can be purchased from the Government for the fol¬ 
lowing prices: 

$250 per caballeria for lands suitable for raising cattle, or for 
the cultivation of cereals, grapes, indigo henequen, etc.; $400 per 
caballeria for those adequate to the cultivation of sugar cane, 
bananas, tobacco and ramie; and $500 per caballeria for those well 
adapted to the cultivation of coffee or cotton, or containing for¬ 
ests of timber suitable for building or other purposes. These 
prices include the expense of surveying, revision and title. 

No tract of land exceeding 15 caballerias in extent can be sold 
to any one person. 

Applicants for lands to be sold by the Government must file 
their petition at the General Land Office in the Capital of the 
Republic, or at the office of the Political Chief in the department 
where the lands are found. 

Unsurveyed lands shall be sold for the same prices and in the 
same manner as those surveyed. 

Lands situated on the frontier of the Republic, bordering upon 
any of the neighboring nations, must be held exclusively by 
Guatemalan citizens, whether by birth or naturalization. Trans¬ 
fers of these lands made by private conveyance in favor of aliens 
shall be void, and entail as a penalty the forfeiture of the lands to 
the Government. 

If these lands are the property of a Guatemalan citizen, and he, 
for any cause whatever, forfeits or abandons his Guatemalan cit¬ 
izenship, the ownership of the lands shall revert to the Govern¬ 
ment, which shall be bound, however, vo pay the ex-owner the 
value of the improvements, as estimated by two experts. 

Land Leases. 

The Government can lease, upon such terms as it may deem 
advisable, the vacant lands of the Nation. Under the Guate¬ 
malan law, this is the only way in which the Government can 
dispose of the lands contained in the belt or strip 1,500 meters 
wide along the coasts of both oceans, 200 meters wide along the 
shores of the lakes, and 100 meters wide along the banks of nav- 




GUATEMALA. 


87 

igable rivers, which is reserved for public use. But no tract of a 
larger area than one caballeria can be leased to one person. 

These leases shall be made for a fixed time, the duration of 
which shall depend upon the amount of expense and labor ne¬ 
cessary to make the land profitable to the lessee, and the rents 
to be paid shall not exceed 5 per cent per caballeria on the price 
of sale. 

Leases of timber lands must always be made by special con¬ 
tracts, the conditions of which shall be determined according to 
circumstances. But the lessee must bind himself in all cases to 
plant two young trees, of the same kind, for each one he cuts 
down. 

Gratuitous Concessions. 

Vacant lands can be granted gratuitously, but never to a great¬ 
er extent than two caballerias per grantee, to municipal corpora¬ 
tions; to colleges, schools, or other educational institutions; to 
new towns; to immigrants, and to immigration companies, agents 
or contractors; to old settlers, or other private individuals who 
have rendered services to be thus rewarded under the law; to 
Guatemalan citizens willing to settle in the localities where the 
lands are situated; and to managers or directors of new roads 
or other ways of communication, provided said managers or di¬ 
rectors are Guatemalan citizens, and that the grant is made either 
as a reward for the building of the road or way of communica¬ 
tion, or as an inducement to build it. 

The President of the Republic is also authorized by law to 
grant to poor persons, gratuitously, and upon such conditions as 
he may deem advisable, any tract of public vacant lands, not ex¬ 
ceeding two caballerias , which may be asked for. The Govern¬ 
ment shall pay, in these cases, the expense of the survey. 

Special Privileges and Concessions. 

Different concessions and privileges have been granted by law 
to the end of promoting some special branches of agricultural 
industry. 

Stock raising has been facilitated and encouraged in the de¬ 
partments of Izabal and Zacapa by a Decree which gives auth¬ 
ority to their political chiefs to make grants of land for that pur- 


88 


GUATEMALA. 


pose. Tenants under these grants who, at the expiration of two 
years from the date of the concession, give sufficient proof that 
they have actually established a stock ranch, shall be entitled to 
acquire in fee simple the ownership of th land, for the price of $50 
per caballeria, to be naid, if so wished, in eight annual instalments. 
The keeping of 15 cows per caballeria shall be deemed sufficient 
proof for this purpose. 

The same favors were granted, under Decrees of 1880 and 
1882, to the departments of Peten and Alta Verapaz. 

Particular inducements, in the shape of premiums, have been 
offered to the cultivators of india rubber, cacao and sarsaparilla; 
$50 per thousand plants of india rubber or cacao, and $25 per 
thousand plants of sarsaparilla. 

Similar inducements have been offered to the cultivators of 
henequen in the department of Peten. 

In the desire to promote the cultivation of wheat the Govern¬ 
ment has authorized the political chiefs of all departments to 
make gratuitous grants from one manzana to one caballeria of 
land. 

The cultivation of bananas has also been promoted in the de¬ 
partments of Izabal, Zacapa and Alta Verapaz, by giving the 
same authority to their respective political chiefs. 

Persons engaged in the cultivation of cotton or tobacco, to the 
extent of at least 8,000 plants of the former or 12,000 of the latter, 
are exempted from military service. So also are day laborers 
over 18 years of age employed on large plantations of coffee, 
sugar cane, cacao, or bananas, who have received over $30 in ad¬ 
vance of their wages and who attend regularly to their work. 

No stamps shall have to be affixed to the account books of the 
estate. 

Transfers of real estate in the country, when the price does not 
exceed $100, or in the city, when lots are unimproved, are ex¬ 
empt from taxation. 

Real estate the value of which does not exceed $1,000 is also 
exempt from taxation. 

No foreigner can be asked, during the first year of residence 
in the country, to do personal service in making or repairing 
reads, or to pay for not doing it. 



Post-Office, Guatemala City 

















GUATEMALA. 


89 


I\o fiscal or municipal tax of any kind whatever is levied for 
ten years upon estates, the whole or largest part of which has 
been devoted to the cultivation of pita, hemp, henequen , flax, 
ramie, cotton or grapes. 

Premiums, additional to all other rewards above mentioned, to 
be paid for a period of ten years, to be counted from April 27, 
1886, have been granted as follows: To grape cultivators, from 
$200 to $5°°i to cultivators of henequen, $500 per area of four 
manzanas; to cotton growers, $5°° P er area of thirty manzanas; 
to cultivators of flax, $500 per area of ten manzanas ; to cultivators 
of wheat, $100 per area of ten manzanas ; and to cultivators of to¬ 
bacco, $100 per 100,000 plants. 

Labor Law. 

1 he Labor Law ( Ley de trabajadores) makes incumbent upon 
the owners or managers, among other things, the following: To 
preserve order within the limits of their respective estates; to 
keep a record of the names, ages and late residence of all per¬ 
sons employed on them, their wages or salaries, and the terms 
and conditions of their employment; to keep a current account 
with each one; to provide each one with a book in which a copy 
of his contract must be entered, together with careful memoranda 
of all the moneys paid him; to provide them with suitable dwell¬ 
ing places or with materials to build them; to allow the laborers 
to work outside of the estate, when no work is done on it; to 
furnish them medicines and medical assistance in case of sick¬ 
ness; to keep on each estate of more than ten families a free 
school for the children, if no other is established in the neighbor¬ 
hood; and to see that all persons on the premises are vaccinated. 

Laborers living on the estates are bound, among other things, 
to keep their contracts, to work for the stipulated wages, to obey 
the orders of their employers and to preserve the book in which 
the record of their work is kept. 

All labor contracts for one month or more must be made in 
writing, and recorded in both the book of the laborer and that of 
his employer. 

Dav laborers have to work on the same plan, and are subject 
to the same rules as those who live on the premises. 





Chapter XI. 


MINES AND MINING LAWS. 

The mineral world of Guatemala is incalculable. Gold mines 
are worked at present on the banks of the Motagua river in the 
departments of Izabal and Baja Verapaz. Silver mines are 
worked at Mataquescuintla in the department of Santa Rosa* 
and Alotepeque in the department of Chiquimula. 

Salt mines abound in the departments of Alta Verapaz and 
Santa Rosa. 

There are iron, copper, lead and coal mines in different locali¬ 
ties of the Republic. 

In the hand book of Guatemala, published by the Bureau of the 
American Republics in January, 1892, as Bulletin No. 32, a re¬ 
port of Mr. Rea, a mining engineer well known in Guatemala 
and elsewhere, on the mining resources of that Republic, was 
given in full. From it the following is extracted: 

My tour of inspection extended through a belt of country from the 
coast range of mountains on the northwestern frontier of the Pacific 
side near Tacana, across the Sierra Madre, to the coast range of the 
Atlantic or Gulf slope. The entire stretch at intervals is essentially a 
mineral territory, in which is found the presence of precious and base 
metals, and upon which little or no prospecting or exploiting has ever 
been made. In the mountains of Motozintla, of the Pacific coast range, 
there are immense deposits of low-grade gold and silver sulphu-et ores 
and some very high-grade lead ores carrying a low percentage of silver; 
also some good copper carbonates. Near Tejutla exist extensive beds 
of excellent ocher ores. In the department of San Marcos cinnabar of 
good grade has been discovered in the blue serpentine formation. The 
mine has been denounced, but no development has been done on it to 
test its merit. The formation, being the blue serpentine, is highly favor¬ 
able for the existence there of permanent deposits of this valuable mineral. 
Auriferous high-grade copper ores are found on the south slope of the 
Chuchumatanes range of mountains, in the department of Huehuetenan- 
go. The excellent character of the ore, being high-grade, clean carbon¬ 
ates on the surface, lying in a contact formation between limestone and 
syenite, would safely justify exploration. 



GUATEMALA. 


91 


At Chiantla, near Huehuetenango, on the southern flank of the same 
mountain range, there are a number of lead mines, carrying more or less 
silver, which have been worked on and near the surface for the past cen¬ 
tury in a primitive and desultory manner by the Indians, mainly for the 
lead they contain. They lie in strong veins and deposits, between talc 
slate and syenite on one side and ferruginous limestone on the other. 
The ores are of the simplest carbonate combination, carrying all the 
necessary smelting fluxes, and yield a clean lead product in the old adobe 
air furnace under fuel heat alone, and average from 40 to 60 per cent, 
lead and from $10 to $15, and as high as $40, in silver per ton. The 
geological formations in which they are found afford reasonable assur¬ 
ance that, as depth is attained in these mines, the ledge or percentage of 
silver will increase. About 16 leagues north of Huehuetenango, on the 
high table-lands of the Chuchumatanes Mountain range, at Todos San¬ 
tos, the same mineral formations we find at Chiantla again break out, 
the veins or deposits being somewhat bolder in their surface croppings, 
averaging from 60 to 70 per cent, lead and from $25 to $45 in silver. 

The same argentiferous lead belt follows the line of contact between 
the limestone and syenite and talc formations in an easterly direction, 
and forms another group of mines of the same character at Santa Cruz 
de Mushtli, on the south fork of the Passion River, in the municipality of 
Salama. 

The test assays run from $10 to $60 in silver and 80 per cent, in lead. 
This same mineral formation extends on further east along the Chuchu¬ 
matanes range, and is lost in the unknown wilds of the Lacandon country, 
to say the least of this silver-lead belt, it is a wonderful showing of min¬ 
eral on the surface, and the attendant geological features are most favor¬ 
able for large and permanent bodies of ores and an improvement in the 
percentage of silver in the downward tendency of the veins or deposits. 

Further west, in the lower Pacific slopes, there occur heavy beds of 
fine, loose gravel, bearing 2 and 3 ounce nuggets of pure lead. These 
nuggets seem to be plentifully diffused throughout these beds, and, as 
far as I could ascertain, were extensive. The rare occurrence of pure 
lead in this natural state may be accounted for on the theory that the 
fiery action of some neighboring volcanoes had encountered a lead vein 
in its eruptive course and had reduced and refined its ores by its under¬ 
ground fires, and in its inward throes had cast up the molten metal, 
which, on reaching the cool air, granulated into these small virgin nug¬ 
gets and had settled countless ages ago in the sedimentary beds where we 
now find them. Lying, as they do, near a coast port, they might be ex¬ 
ploited to an advantage. 

Cinnabar ore is reported to have been found in the municipality of 
San Marcos, and also tin ores near Malactan. Some excellent salt springs 
break on the Salama River. The waters yield a high percentage of first- 
class salt, and, if systematically operated, could be made to yield a hand¬ 
some revenue. Two large deposits of black lead, or plumbago, exist, 
one about 15 miles north of Huehuetenango and the. other about the 
same distance south. The mineral is of an excellent variety, clear of grit, 
and ready for commerce. 

Marble of a superior quality, alabaster, and immense beds of gypsum 
are also found in the department of Quiche. 

The department of Baja Verapaz has claimed my attention for the 
past three months, and I find the geological formation of that portion 
to which I devoted my examination highly favorable to the existence of 
the precious and useful metals. I found well-defined auriferous gravel 
beds at different points along the banks of the Rio Grande, showing a 


92 


GUATEMALA. 


fair average prospect of heavy, coarse gold. The little development I 
found there had been confined to the immediate banks cut down by the 
river channel, by scooping out the gold-bearing gravel from the upper 
surface and patiently washing it in rude wooden bateas, or bowls. Sev¬ 
enty-five of these bateas averaged about $5 in nice, clean gold. It does 
not seem that there has been any attempt to properly explore any of 
these auriferous gravel beds. In many places the flats extend back from 
the river banks to a considerable distance toward the hills or bluffs, giv¬ 
ing an extensive area for placer ground. The gold-bearing gravel beds 
generally lie deeply capped by alluvial deposits, and consequently drifting 
in on the beds would be the most feasible way of mining them; and, 
as the gravel is clear of clay, some simple gold-washing device would 
easily eliminate the sands and other matter from the gold at a trifling 
outlay of labor. A little energy and enterprise expended in prospecting 
these grounds might be well repaid. The river at its lowest stage would 
afford all the hydraulic power that would ever be required in extensive 
placer operations. 

Good croppings of sulphurets of silver and carbonates of copper are 
found in the adjacent foothills above the Panahigh placers. 

Along the south slopes of the range of mountains that runs parallel 
to the Rio Grande there extends a mica belt for a considerable distance. 
The line of this rare mineral is very distinctly marked, strikingly similar 
to that of our best mica formations in North Carolina, the chief source of 
suppply of this mineral in the United States. 

The blocks of mica found here are of the finest laminated structure, 
clear as crystal, and entirely free from foreign substances that so often 
detracts from the value of this mineral. They would probably yield 15 
per cent, in cut commercial mica sheets, averaging from 2 by 4 to 6 by 
12 inches in size. The refuse of the blocks of the smaller sheets would 
furnish a large quantity of clean mica that could be profitably utilized by 
grinding up into flour mica for export, as the uses of ground mica are 
yearly increasing. I will not fail to note that frequently the sheets in 
some of the blocks exhibited beautiful figures of variegated colorings, 
shaded with blue, green, red, and yellow, happily blended in the most 
delicate tints, which, on a thorough fire test, proved to be a fast-coloring 
matter. This class of mica, when colors become more solid, commands 
fancy prices. 

Running parallel with the line of the mica area there are found veins 
of asbestos and deposits of plumbago. The asbestos is of the fine textile 
variety, and seeems free from all foreign substances, varying in color from 
deep gray to snow whiteness, the fiber measuring from 1 to 3 feet in 
length. The plumbago lies in irregular deposits, showing considerable 
quantities on the surface, and is of a clean quality. 

In the vicinity of Ravinal and Cabulco are found undeveloped silver 
and copper ledges. The silver veins are small on the surface, but in good 
primary formation, being fair-grade lead sulphurets. The copper veins 
are small, but the ore is of the finest kind of malachites. Loadstone and 
immense deposits or high-grade magnetic iron ores, also large gypsum 
deposits, lie in the same locality. 

In Alta Verapaz, near San Cristobal, there is a group of lead mines 
carrying a light percentage of silver, which, though small, would pay 
for separation on a large scale. These mines are worked for the lead 
alone, and suppply the entire ordnance department of the Government. 

Near Coban are extensive chalk beds of a most excellent quality, which 
are mined, and the product prepared into neat crayons, that supply all 
the. schools and colleges of the Republic with this useful article. Native 





GUATEMALA. 


93 


mercury has been discovered in the mountains north of Coban. Speci¬ 
mens of float rock taken from the same locality proved to be the gray 
sulphurets of mercury. Xo explorations have yet been made to discover 
the ledge. Quantities of bitumen are found in beds m the eastern section 
of the department, which is strongly charged with petroleum, is highly 
inflammable, throwing off a bright, strong flame, emitting a decided coal- 
oil flavor. A proper exploitation on these beds by systematic boring 
would doubtless tap, at a moderate depth, a petroleum flow. Several 
large, bold flows of salt springs burst out at the Seven Sierras, in the 
northern part of the department, which have been operated for years, 
and yield an extra quality of salt, from which the population of the 
eastern departments mainly draw their supplies, and if worked to their 
full capacity could be easily made to supply all Central America with 
their product alone. 

In the department of Izabal. on the alluvial lands of the Motagua and 
Polochic, in the vicinity of Libertad and Querbradas, exist extensive 
beds of gold placers, which have been worked for years in a primitive 
way, until several foreign companies have commenced operating them 
with the best modern appliances, and they are reaping favorable results. 
These gravel beds cover a large area of ground, are of good average 
thickness and well defined, and under proper management should yield 
fair dividends. These two rivers and their tributaries drain an extensive 
mountain country, and have in time cut and dragged down their golden 
sands from existing quartz veins on their course, which circumstance 
would give reasonable grounds to believe a quartz El Dorado of the 
“yellow wealth” may some near day be uncovered somewhere along the 
upper line of their flow. In the foothills a few leagues west of Living¬ 
ston have been discovered several coal veins, which are said to be of 
good anthracite variety; but no development has yet been dmie on them. 

The department of Chiquimula abounds in numerous meritorious min¬ 
eral prospects. As far as discovered, the principal localities are the dis¬ 
tricts of Concepcion, Alotepeque, and Lemones. The natives of these 
places have in a crude, desultory way taken out consideiable quantities 
of silver, copper iron, and antimony. The ancient mineral of Alotepeque 
lies in a’ mountain of the same name, and was at one time operated very 
successfully, producing large quantities of silver, when a disastrous ca\ e 
occurred in the mine, burying the underground works so effectually that 
the owners, having amassed comfortable fortunes,. never attempted to 
reopen the works, and the mine has ever since remained abandoned, save 
what little work the Gambusinos have done in their loose mining style 
culling out and robbing the ores from most accessible points ot the old 
works for years afterward, then extracting considerable quantities ot 

silver from the mine. 

In the department of Escuintla, at a place known as the “Salts, there 
has been recently discovered a silver mine that gives satisfactory aver¬ 
age assays in silver. ^ 

At Metascuintla, in the department of Santa Rosa, is located the Ro¬ 
sario silver mine. The mine is equipped with a good io-stamp mill, with 
all the modern ore treatment and mining appliances of a well-appointed 
silver plant, and yields an output of from $30,000 to $35,000 worth ot 
hio-h-grade silver bullion per month, giving probably a net profit of over 
10S per cent, on the capital invested. The veins a-e strong, well-defined 
in the primitive formation, and from the splendid reserves of high-grade 
ores now systematically opened up and m sight in the underground 
works assures the luckv owners a “bonanza for years to come. 

In the different mineral belts of the Republic without doubt there are 


94 


GUATEMALA. 


other such opportunities as the above lying around loose, awaiting only 
intelligent and practical methods to be put in operation. On reference 
to the old archives of the colonial days we find that between the dates 
of 1627 and 1820, 1,322 mines of gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, tin, and 
one of mercury were opened and worked, and were a source of great 
revenue. 

The enlightened policy of the Government offers every reasonable en¬ 
couragement to and throws every solid guaranty around this particular 
interest. There need be no misgivings on the part of the foreign miner 
as to the security and full enjoyment of his rights under the liberal laws 
enacted to protect the mining industry. 

The mining operations, the character and availability of labor, the costs 
of freight, and all the other items that bear directly upon the value of 
mining properties must be closely studied and considered. The mining 
and reduction of ores in Guatemala, as in all new interior regions, are 
accompanied by conditions and difficulties that at first are rarely appre¬ 
ciated by foreign operators. When they are properly understood those 
difficulties can be satisfactorily overcome. They must learn the character 
of the native labor and the defective transportation service incident to all 
mountainous countries, how to convert the crude material and rude ap¬ 
pliances at hand to the immediate wants of the situation, and also the 
importance of keeping a good mining stock ahead on hand. 

In Guatemala, different in this respect from almost all of the 
other Spanish American Republics, there is no special mining 
code or ordinance. All the legislation relating to mines is to be 
found in Title XI of the so-called Fiscal Code (Codigo Fiscal), 
which consists of a series of articles beginning with the 440th and 
ending with the 566th. The text in full of this Title is as follows: 

TITLE XI.—MINES. 

Chapter 1.—Ownership of the Mines . 

Art. 440. The ownership of mines of gold, silver, copper, plat¬ 
inum, quicksilver, lead, zinc, bismuth, cobalt, nickel, tin, anti¬ 
mony, arsenic, iron, manganese, molibdene, and precious stones, 
the working of which requires labor and operations which may be 
considered as mining industry, is vested exclusively in the Na¬ 
tion. 

The Nation is also the owner of the salt mines, petroleum wells, 
coal mines, and deposits of all other fossil and combustible min¬ 
erals to be found on public lands, even though the latter may sub¬ 
sequently become private property. 

Salt and coal mines and fossil deposits to be found on lands of 
private persons may be freely worked by the owner of the land, 





GUATEMALA. 


95 

with no obligation other than to report their existence to the 
•executive authority. 

Art. 441. Precious stones or metals found loose upon the 
ground belong to the first occupant. 

Art. 442. Quarries of building stone, or of stone used for orna¬ 
mental purposes, deposits of sand, clay, slate, turf, loam or other 
substances applicable to construction, agriculture, or the arts, 
found in vacant lands of the Nation, or of the municipalities, may 
may be worked in common by the people of the respective locali¬ 
ties. 

Nothing in this provision, however, shall be construed as 
abridging the right of the Nation or of the municipality to grant 
the right of working the said substances to private parties, under 
special regulations and conditions. 

Art. 443. Auriferous sands, iron deposits, either transported or 
alluvial, and other minerals in river beds or placers, wherever 
found, may be freely taken advantage of without securing per¬ 
mits. 

Should reduction works of a permanent character, for treating 
the auriferous sands and other substances referred to in this arti¬ 
cle, be proposed, the interested party may apply to have them 
constituted a mine-holding (pertencncia miner a). 

Art. 444. Tailings, slag heaps, and re-washings of abandoned 
mines are an integral part of the mine to which they belong; but 
so long as the latter does not become private property, the former 
may be freely worked in common. 

Slag heaps and re-washings of old smelting establishments, 
abandoned by their owners, when found on grounds not fenced 
or walled in, shall also be free to all. 

Art. 445. As soon as the existence of a mine is officially recog¬ 
nized the farm or estate within the limits of which it is found 
becomes subject to an easement, under which the owner shall be 
bound to allow the occupation of such a portion of his land as 
may be necessary for the proper working of the mine in the meas¬ 
ure that the development of the work may require, and for con¬ 
structing dwelling houses for the miners, furnaces, engines, 
roads, and everything necessary for the working of the mine. 
But the owner of the land is not bound to allow commercial or 



96 


GUATEMALA. 


industrial smelting or refining works to be established on his 
property. 

This easement shall not become a practical fact except upon 
previous payment, not only of the value of the land occupied, but 
of all damages sustained either by the owner of the estate or by 
any other person affected thereby. 

Art. 446. All open roads leading to a mine may be used by all 
other mines on the same territory; in which case the expense of 
maintenance shall be divided pro rata between them, according 
to the use made thereof. 

Art. 447. But the estate on which the mine is found and the es¬ 
tates in its immediate neighborhood shall be subject, as long as 
they are not cultivated or inclosed, to the easement known as 
right of pasture, for the use and benefit of animals employed in 
working the mine. 

All such works as may be required on such estate or estates 
for securing the necessary supply of water for working the mines 
must also be allowed by the owners; provided, however, that no 
injury is thereby occasioned either towns in the vicinity, agricul¬ 
ture, other establishments previously existing, or the navigation 
of rivers. 

Previous indemnification shall be required in all the cases re¬ 
ferred to in this article. 

Art. 448. Mines are real property, distinct and separate from 
the real property represented by the land, even if both belong to 
the same person. 

Art. 449. Mines, as real property, shall be governed by the pro¬ 
visions of the Civil Code, in so far as they are not in conflict with 
the Fiscal Code. 

Art. 450. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding ar¬ 
ticle, should the stock of a mine or a mining company be repre¬ 
sented by bonds or certificates, the title thereto, and consequently 
to the stock itself, may be legally transferred by a simple endorse¬ 
ment. 

Chapter II.—Exploration of Mines. 

Art. 451. Persons prospecting for mines, referred to in sections 
1 and 2 of article 440, shall have the right to make the proper in¬ 
vestigations and explorations. . 




Banco Internacional, Guatemala City 






































GUATEMALA. 


97 


Art. 452. In order to conduct explorations on cultivated or 
enclosed lands it shall be necessary to obtain the permission of 
the owner or manager thereof. 

Should permission be denied the Alcalde of the place shall have 
the power to grant it after a verbal hearing of the interested par¬ 
ties and of experts, should he deem it advisable, or be so request¬ 
ed by any of the parties. 

Art. 453. The permit granted by the Alcalde, pursuant to the 
provisions of the preceding article, shall fix the number of per¬ 
sons to conduct the investigations, and shall be subject always 
to the following conditions: 

1st. That the investigation be made when there is no growing 
crop on the land. 

2d. That the exploration shall not exceed two months, reck¬ 
oned from the date of the permit. 

3d. That the explorer, should the owner of the land require it, 
give bond to make good all damages and injuries the explora¬ 
tion may occasion. 

Art. 454. If, for good reasons shown, the exploration cannot 
be made during the time designated, the permit may be extended 
to some other proper time by decree of the competent authority. 

Art. 455. Permission to conduct prospecting work inside of 
dwellings, or within fifty meters thereof, may only be granted by 
the owner. 

Art. 456. Calicatas, or prospecting excavations, within fifty 
meters from a building or a railroad, or on lands whose grade is 
above or below a public road, cannot be made without special 
permission of the proper political chief, who shall grant the same 
if, in the opinion of experts, there be no objection, prescribing at 
the same time the precautionary measures the case may require. 

To make such excavations within 1,000 meters from any forti¬ 
fied points permission must be granted by the Secretary of War. 

Special permission from the local authorities must also be se¬ 
cured for making explorations within 100 meters from aqueducts, 
drinking pools or springs. 

Violations of this article shall be punished by a fine of not less 
than 50 nor more than 500 pesos, independent of any indemnifi¬ 
cations which may have to be paid. 






98 


GUATEMALA. 


Art. 457. Applicants shall pav the fees due to the experts who 
have reported on an application to conduct exploration work. 

Chapter III.—Discovery of Mines. 

Art. 458. Every discoverer, native or alien, of a new vein, de¬ 
posit, pocket, or mineral-bearing locality, or any other class con¬ 
taining any of the substances or precious stones to which clause 
1 of article 440 refers, shall be entitled to the concession thereof. 

Art. 459. The finding of metallic substances is also considered 
a “discovery,” even though the vein or locality containing them 
shows indications that one or several attempts have already been 
made to prospect them; provided, however, that none of these at¬ 
tempts have been the subject of a prior grant. 

Art. 460. In case of two or more applicants claiming to be dis¬ 
coverers of the same vein or deposit the concession shall be 
granted to him who proves to have been the first in finding metal, 
even though others may have previously dug or prospected there. 

In case of doubt the first applicant shall be considered the dis¬ 
coverer. 

Art. 461. The discoverer of mines or lands where no other 
mine exists within a radius of five kilometers has the right to 
three holdings ( pertcnencias ), whether continuous or not, in the 
principal vein, and one holding in each of the other veins includ¬ 
ed in his discovery. 

The discoverer of a vein within a radius of five kilometers of 
a mine for which a concession has already been granted shall 
have the right to two holdings, continuous or not, in said vein. 

Art. 462. All persons restoring old and abandoned mineral dis¬ 
tricts shall be considered discoverers, and may obtain the hold¬ 
ings referred to in clause 1 of the preceding article. 

Art. 463. In no case other than those mentioned can the appli¬ 
cant be granted more than one holding ( pertenencia ). But an un¬ 
limited number of holdings may be acquired through legal trans¬ 
fer of title. 

Art. 464. Mining companies are entitled to three holdings 
more than individual discoverers. 


GUATEMALA. 


99 


Chapter IV.—Holdings and Demarcations of Mines. 

Art. 465. A mining claim or holding ( pertenencia ) consists of a 
body with a rectangular base, having an indefinite vertical depth, 
400 meters long in a straight line in the direction of the vein, 
and 200 meters wide. 

Art. 466. The length shall be measured by following the direc¬ 
tion of the vein, starting from the cropping point designated by 
the miner, provided that the work referred to in article 503 be in¬ 
cluded within the claim or holding. 

Art. 467. The width shall be measured on a perpendicular hor¬ 
izontal to the direction of the vein. 

It may be distributed on either side of the vein as the miner 
may desire, but no more than ten meters against the recuesto or , 
inclination of the vein shall be granted, should the abutting min¬ 
ers object. 

Art. 468. In case of irregular lodes, or deposits, the holding 
shall be a right prism, having for its base a square 200 meters on 
each side. 

Art. 469. In auriferous sands, and other substances mentioned 
in article 443, the holding shall consist of 10,000 square meters, 
and may be in the shape of either a rectangular parallelogram or 
a square, either in a series or a number of squares fitting together 
in the form requested by the miner, but without leaving any in¬ 
tervals or intervening space. 

Art. 470. Claims or holdings shall be surveyed and marked by 
means of firm, lasting and visible monuments. 

Art. 471. In order to proceed to the survey and demarcation of 
these holdings the abutting mine owners or managers must be 
cited to be present at the survey, should they be known and liv¬ 
ing in the vicinity of the mine. 

If neither the owner nor manager of a neighboring mine is 
found at the place the citation shall be by proclamation for the 
period of fifteen days. 

These proclamations shall be posted in the most public places, 
and be inserted in one newspaper, should there be any in the de¬ 
partment. 

Persons thus summoned shall have ten days in which to object 
if they have any reason therefor. 


100 


GUATEMALA. 


Art. 472. Priority in the denouncements gives preferent right 
to the survey and demarcation of a mine, in respect of the newest 
mines; but this preference shall be forfeited when no work has 
been done at the mine, even when not judicially declared to be an 
unworked mine. 

Art. 473. Mine holdings applied for to explore a vein leading 
from another known mine should be marked, if possible, so as to 
leave no open space between the two mines. 

Art. 474. Mine holdings must always be continuous. 

Should the ground be insufficient for the staking off of a hold¬ 
ing, because of the interposition of another claim or holding, the 
former shall be limited to the unclaimed ground up to the point 
of meeting, and the said measurement cannot be completed by 
jumping the intervening claim. 

The provisions of this article shall not conflict with the right 
granted by article 481. 

Art. 475. The topographical engineer, or experts, shall estab¬ 
lish, whenever possible, the limits of the legal area with regard to 
the natural and perceptible objects of the ground, making a rec¬ 
ord of their position and distance. 

Art. 476. When the demarcation of the limits is completed the 
engineer, or experts, shall make an exact minute setting forth 
clearly, and in detail, the way in which the work was done and 
the result thereof. 

This minute shall be transmitted to the Executive for his ap¬ 
proval should he find it full and legal. 

Art. 477. The owner of a mine shall be bound to keep and pre¬ 
serve in good condition the monuments which mark the limits of 
his holding. He cannot alter or move them, under penalty of a 
fine of not less than 50 nor more than 500 pesos , without reference 
to criminal liability, should he nave acted maliciously. 

Art. 478. Should a monument be obliterated or destroyed by 
accident or fortuitous circumstances the miner should inform the 
proper Alcalde, in order that he may cause it to be replaced, sum¬ 
moning tne vicinage. 

Art. 479. The miner is the exclusive owner within his holding, 
not only of the vein or deposit he may have denounced, but also 
of all the other veins, cross-veins, and mineral substances there 


GUATEMALA. 


101 


existing or to be found; but he is forbidden to work them beyond 
the limits of his own property. 

Art. 480. All trespassing on the holdings of others renders the 
trespasser liable to the payment of the value, as estimated by ex¬ 
perts, of all ore he may have taken, independently of liability to 
prosecution for larceny if he acted with malice. 

Art. 481. In case a new vein is found crossing the one already 
under work the miner shall have the right to work it beyond the 
limits of his own property if he can identify it, and demand, in 
conformity with the provisions of article 564, passage through 
the holding crossed, or the use he may have to make thereof. 

Art. 482. Trespass cannot be charged where a mine has no 
holding properly marked and clearly defined until it is legally 
surveyed or the old land-marks are replaced. 

Art. 483. Miners have the right to visit, either personally or 
through the engineer or mining expert by them named, the ad¬ 
joining mines whenever they have reason to believe that a tres¬ 
pass upon their property has been or is about to be made, or 
when they apprehend some injury, such as a flood or the like, or 
when the visit may be necessary to obtain information important 
to their mining work. 

When permission to make such a visit has been asked upon the 
ground of supposed trespass, or danger from flood, the engineer 
01 expert shall have the right to survey the works adjoining the 
mine of the applicant. 

Art. 484. The groundless refusal of a permit to make the visit 
or concealment of the work in which the trespass consists, or any 
difficulty or obstacle placed in the way of the inspection and ex¬ 
amination of the ground, will raise a presumption of bad faith. 

Art. 485. If, upon the proper inspection by the engineer or ex¬ 
pert, or in any other way whatever, sufficient proof of the trespass 
is obtained, the local authorities shall have the power, at the re¬ 
quest of the interested party, to order the temporary suspension 
of the trespassing work, and seals shall be affixed on the dividing 
line while the interested parties are settling their differences in 
the courts. 

Art. 486. Miners who have gone in their subordinate work be¬ 
yond the limits of their holdings shall have a preferred right to 


102 


GUATEMALA. 


extend the latter in the direction in which they began to an ex¬ 
tent equal to that they may have run horizontally with such work 
from the starting point, provided the ground is sufficient or be¬ 
longs to an abandoned or unworked mine. A denouncement of 
the new holding is, however, required. 

Art. 487. Owners of mines between which unappropriated 
spaces exist have a preferred right to the same, and they cannot 
be granted to third parties unless the former have either not ap¬ 
plied therefor or do not wish them. 

The failure of the neighboring owners to make opposition to 
the granting of the said space to other parties shall be construed 
as sufficient relinquishment. 

Art. 488. Owners of mines between which the said unappropri¬ 
ated spaces exist cannot add them to their holdings without 
previous concession by the competent authority, and the adjudi¬ 
cation shall be made in such case among them all in proportion 
to their lines of contact. 

Chapter V.—Holdings for Exploring a Known Mine. 

Art. 489. As soon as the discovery of a mine is made the dis¬ 
coverer has the right to ask for the concession of a mining claim 
or holding for the purpose of exploring the said vein for ninety 
days in the direction he may indicate leading from the vein the 
discoverer may designate on the land of said holding. 

Art. 490. If two or more persons make application for a grant 
of this kind in the same direction, preference shall be given to the 
one who first files his petition, and so on in regular order. 

Art. 491. Should the person who makes the exploration under 
a grant of this kind succeed in discovering a deposit of ore, he 
shall meet the requirements of the law by complying in his ap¬ 
plication with the sixth and seventh conditions of article 496, 
being subject to the other conditions established regarding dis¬ 
coverers. 

Art. 492. If no mineral deposit is found within the period of 
ninety days, mentioned in article 489, the grant shall lapse and 
the mining - claim or holding may be granted to anyone who may 
apply for it. 



GUATEMALA. 


103 

Art. 493. If after well directed and sufficient efforts, within the 
ninety days aforesaid, the grantee of this kind of claim or holding 
shall have been unable to find a deposit because of its depth be¬ 
low the surface, or for any other reason not imputable to him, 
and he should apply for an extension of said time, it shall be 
granted after an investigation and report by an expert, with the 
proviso that the extension shall not exceed the original term. 

Chapter VI.—Denouncement of Mines of Precious Metals and 

Stones. 

Art. 494. Every application having for its object the denounce¬ 
ment or concession of mines of precious metals or stones must be 
filed in the office of the political chief of the department where the 
mine is located, or with the Secretary of the Treasury. 

Art. 495. Whenever, owing to the great distance of the resi¬ 
dence of the authorities mentioned in the foregoing article, or for 
any other like reason, they cannot be resorted to, the application 
may be presented to the nearest local authority. 

The only object for such filing is that there be made upon the 
•margin of the application the note referred to in article 499; the 
applicant being, nevertheless, bound to again appear before the 
proper officer within the term of ten days from the date of said 
annotation. 

Art. 496. Every discoverer applying for the concession of the 
deposits by him discovered must set forth in his written applica¬ 
tion : 

1. The place where located. 

2. Whether the hill or land where the discovery is made has 
or has not been previously worked. 

3. The character or kind of substance discovered, accompanied 
by a sample clearly showing the same. 

4. The kind of vein or deposit discovered, the form of its loca¬ 
tion, and the direction, more or less, that it shows on the surface. 

5. The number of holdings the applicant desires, and whether 
the land will admit of the same. 

6. Whether the latter is public or waste land, or private prop¬ 
erty, setting forth, in the latter case, the name and residence of 
the owner. 


104 


GUATEMALA. 


7. The name to be given the mine and the names of neighbor¬ 
ing mines, should there be any. 

8. The place, day, month, and year of filing. 

Art. 497. Applications filed by a partnership must be necessar¬ 
ily accompanied by the articles of co-partnership. 

The case mentioned in article 495 arising, it will be sufficient to 
present the said articles within the term therein mentioned. 

Art. 498. No officer is excusable for not allowing an applica¬ 
tion to follow the regular course because of a prior application 
on the same subject. 

Art. 499. The officer before whom a denouncement of mines 
is filed, or his notary or secretary, shall at once note upon the 
margin thereof the hour, day, month, and year when the same 
was filed, furnishing a certificate of the same to the applicant 
should he request it. 

Art. 500. The application once filed the applicant shall be no¬ 
tified to prove: 

1. The existence of the deposit, and that the sample presented 
was taken therefrom. 

2. That he has planted stakes or marks on the surface to dis¬ 
tinguish the deposit applied for from any other. 

3. Whether the hill or land where the discovery is situated will 
admit of the holding requested. 

Art. 501. Should it appear from the proof adduced that the 
land does not afford suitable space for at least one legal holding, 
or that there is not to be found thereon the mineral substance 
occasioning the application, the latter will be rejected. 

Art. 502. Should it appear from the proofs that the deposit and 
other conditions referred to in article 500 exist, the application 
will be granted without prejudice to third parties having prior 
rights; it shall be ordered to be published in the official news¬ 
paper, and by means of placards affixed in public places, in order 
that whoever may have a legal right to the mine applied for or 
denounced shall appear within forty days, and, furthermore, mak¬ 
ing a record of the application and all the proceedings in a book 
of denouncements to be kept for the purpose. The party inter¬ 
ested shall be notified that within the said fortv davs he must 

j 

commence the work referred to in the following article. 







juira lawsm 


Union Hotel, Guatemala City. 















GUATEMALA. 


105 


Art- 5°3- The party interested must, within the forty days 
mentioned in the foregoing article, open up on the deposit de¬ 
nounced a pit or gallery of the depth and length necessary to 
learn the class of ore, its richness, direction, dip of the vein, and 
other circumstances characterizing the mine. 

Within the same term the assay of the samples of ore shall be 
made in the mint or by experts. 

Art. 504. Should the denouncer, after having executed the 
work mentioned in the foregoing article, or having been unable 
to execute the same owing to superior force, such as absolute 
lack of water or of workmen, excessive hardness of the ground, 
sinking, or other causes of like gravity, he may apply for an ex¬ 
tension of forty more days, which shall be granted after inquiry. 

Art. 505. At the expiration of the forty days mentioned in ar¬ 
ticle 502, and no objection to the denouncement having been 
made, or, if made, having been declared unfounded, and no ex¬ 
tension having been granted, the political chief, on petition of the 
party interested, shall forward the record of the proceedings to 
the Executive, in order that the survey and marking of the hold¬ 
ing or holdings requested may be proceeded with. 

The political chief shall accompany the record with a report 
of whatever he.may deem proper to lay before the Executive. 

Art. 506. Should the survey and marking not be requested 
within two months, reckoned from the expiration of the term of 
forty days, and the extension thereof, should it have been granted, 
the mine shall be denounceable before the concessionaire com¬ 
plies with said requirement. 

Art. 507. There being no objection or opposition the Secretary 
of the Treasury shall appoint a topographical engineer or ex¬ 
pert to proceed with the survey and demarcation of the holding 
or holdings applied for pursuant to the provisions of chapter IV 
of this Title. 

Art. S08. The engineer or expert appointed to make surveys, 
reconnaissances, or other acts connected therewith, cannot be 
objected to; but the interested party may request that he be asso¬ 
ciated with another engineer whom he shall have the right to des¬ 
ignate. 

Art. 509. These operations once executed the Executive, 


106 


GUATEMALA. 


should lie find them correct and legal, shall order the issue of the 
proper title deed, in which shall be inserted the metes and bounds 
of the mine. 

Art. 510. Should any doubt arise regarding the survey the Ex¬ 
ecutive shall hear the report of another engineer or expert. 

Art. 511. The title deed to the mine once issued the survey 
cannot be impugned save for an engineering error appearing in 
the minute where it is recorded or through fraud or deceit. 

Nevertheless, it may be corrected upon application of the 
owner at any time that new data may be produced to better de¬ 
termine the direction or dip of the vein, provided there be no 
prejudice to third parties. 

Art. 512. It shall also be corrected on the application and at 
the expense of the miner who shall locate within the bounds and 
in the vicinity of the holding surveyed, and who shall allege that 
it exceeds the limits designated in the deed. 

Art. 513. The same course shall be pursued in the correction 
as is established for the original demarcation and survey. 

Art. 514. For each deed conveying title to a mine the grantee 
shall pay 100 pesos into the National Treasury in advance. 

Art. 515. The record having been made the samples of ores 
and the results of the assays shall be transmitted to the mint, set¬ 
ting forth the locality where the ores were found. 

The record shall be transmitted to the office of the Notary for 
the Treasury, in order that it may be transcribed in the book of 
mining grants which shall be kept for the purpose, and be de¬ 
posited in the land archives in a separate section. 

Art. 516. Should any opposition arise, alleging property rights 
in the mine denounced, the executive officer before whom the 
record may be pending, shall forward the same, in case the par¬ 
ties cannot agree, to the proper judge of the first instance. 

Should the opposition allege a preferred right by reason of a 
prior denouncement of the mine, the proper department, after 
hearing the interested parties, shall determine who has the best 
right to the denouncement. 

Art. 517. The opposition shall not cause suspension of the for¬ 
mation of the record, the marking of the holdings, and the dig¬ 
ging of the pit, which shall be carried on by the party in tern- 


GUATEMALA. 


107 


porary possession, the only suspension being in the survey and 
final possession, until the conclusion of the suit as to the owner¬ 
ship of the mine. 

Chapter VII. — Tunnels. 

Art. 518. A miner desiring to work his mine by means of a 
tunnel, pits or shafts, may execute such works without previous 
permit within the limits of his holding, or beyond the same 
should he be on land not occupied by other mines. 

Art. 519. If in executing such works he should have to begin 
them in the holding of another, or cross it therewith, in whole or 
in part, and could not reach an agreement with its owner, he 
shall ask permission of the proper political chief. 

The political chief shall grant th permission if, in the judgment 
of an engineer or expert whom he shall appoint for the purpose, 
the following conditions shall appear: 

1. That the work is possible and useful. 

2. That the work cannot be executed in other directions with¬ 
out incurring excessively greater expense. 

3. That the working of the mine which the tunnel crosses is 
not prevented or considerably impaired. 

Art. 520. Each of the parties may also name an expert to act 
jointly with the one appointed by the political chief, to which 
end the latter shall previously notify them of the day on which 
the land is to be examined. 

Art. 521. Should a disagreement arise between the engineers 
or experts an umpire shall be named. 

Art. 522. Upon granting the permit the political chief shall 
designate the direction the tunnel or work should follow and the 
extreme limit to be allowed it in the holding of another, pursuant 
to the report of the engineer or expert; and the tunnel builder 
shall not vary from such direction or limit in the course of the 
work without a new permit previously obtained, which shall not 
be granted without expert report. 

No new permit is necessary when the variation is accidental to 
avoid difficulties that may present themselves in the work. 

Art. 523. Before commencing the tunnel or work the party un¬ 
dertaking it shall give a bond to indemnify the injuries that may 
be occasioned the mine he intends crossing. 


108 


GUATEMALA. 


Art. 524. The owner of the mine crossed shall respect the pit 
or gallery crossing it, shall not touch their supports, and shall ab¬ 
stain from taking out ore, when by so doing their walls shall be 
left with less than two meters of thickness, unless he strengthens 
the same fully. But the tunnel builder shall make good the dam¬ 
ages he may occasion the mine owner by not complying with this 
obligation. 

Art. 525. Should the tunnel builder encounter a vein in the 
holding of another he shall not work or exploit the same, but 
shall limit himself to carry his tunnel along the same and deliver 
the ore to the owner, deducting the expense of taking it out; but 
he may appropriate the veins he may encounter on vacant land 
by fulfilling the conditions imposed on discoverers. 

The demarcation of the new holding, in such case, should be 
carried to the surface. 

Art. 526. The tunnel builder attempting to carry his tunnel or 
work through abandoned or unworked mines may become the 
owner thereof by merely building the tunnel, provided he pre¬ 
viously denounced the same. 

Art. 527. In order that the mine or mines of the tunnel builder 
may be deemed protected by the building of the tunnel alone it 
is necessary: 

1. That it be proven, through the report of the engineer or 
expert, that the tunnel or work done in its execution go in the 
direction thereof, and that the working of the mines by that 
means is possible and useful. 

2. That in the course of the work the tunnel shall not deviate 
from the direction established, unless it be accidentally, as pre¬ 
scribed in article 522. 

3. That the number of workmen be maintained and the other 
conditions laid down for retaining ownership of mines be ob¬ 
served in the work. 

Art. 528. Owners of mines drained by the tunnel, or whose 
work is facilitated, shall pay to the builder of said tunnel, by ex¬ 
pert appraisement, the value of the benefit received, or the cost 
that such benefits would occasion through other means. 

This provision covers the case of drainage by means of pits. 


GUATEMALA. 


109 


Chapter VIII.—-Concession of Salt and Anthracite Coal Mines. 

Art. 529. Salt and anthracite coal mines, the ownership of 
which the Nation reserves pursuant to this Code, may be granted 
to private parties through lease or special contracts. 

Art. 53 °- The lease of said mines shall be granted subject to 
the conditions following: 

1. That the term of the lease shall not exceed ten years. 

2. That upon the expiration of said term the lessee shall trans¬ 
fer to the Nation all the improvements he may have made. 

3. That the lease shall be made to the highest bidder at the 
yearly rental to be determined by the report of experts. 

Art. 531. Conditions being equal, the discoverer or denouncer 
shall have preference in the working of the mines by contract or 
lease. 

Art. 532. Should the denouncer or discoverer not secure the 
working of the mine, he shall have the right to demand of the 
public Treasury a remuneration of not less than ten per cent, of 
the total product of the contract or lease. 

Art. 533. The indemnity referred to in article 445 of this Title 
shall be furnished by the lessee or contractor. 

Chapter IX.—Abandonment of Mines and Final Grant. 

Art. 534. Any miner desiring to abandon his mine, after con¬ 
veyance to him, shall advise the political chief of the proper de¬ 
partment in writing, who shall order the publication of the aban¬ 
donment in the same manner prescribed for the discovery. 

Should there be any secured creditors of the mine, the miner 
shall inform them of the abandonment and trasfer to them his 
rights, should the former require it. 

The creditor holding the first mortgage shall be preferred in 
the transferring of the mine. 

Art. 535. The abandoned mine may be granted to the first ap¬ 
plying therefor without prejudice to the preference granted in 
the foregoing article to secured creditors. 

Art. 536. A mine which has been unworked may also be con¬ 
sidered as tacitly abandoned. 




110 


GUATEMALA. 


Art. 537. A mine is taken to be unworked ( despoblada ): 

1. When work is suspended for more than two years. 

2. When, after securing the grant, the safety work indispensa¬ 
ble to prevent the mine from getting into a ruinous state shall not 
have been executed within the term of one year. 

Art. 538. No charge that a mine is unworked shall be filed, 
even should this condition exist, when, prior to the application for 
denouncement, works legally protecting the title shall have been 
resumed in the mine. 

Art. 539. The mine shall not be held as unworked when the 
suspension of work grows out of a superior force, such as abso¬ 
lute lack of laborers, war, famine, pestilence, or any other like 
cause. 

Art. 540. In the matter of the second clause of article 537 the 
mine owner may retain his right thereto, provided he binds him¬ 
self to repair or to open up the work within the term the au¬ 
thorities may designate. 

Art. 541. Legal protection of the title consists in the employ¬ 
ment of at least four laborers engaged in exploiting work. 

Art. 542. A mine is not protected by works exclusively di¬ 
rected towards taking advantage of clearings, lands, dumps, or 
tailings. 

Neither is a mine protected by the penetrating works of an¬ 
other neighboring mine. 

Art. 543. The party alleging the abandonment of a mine shall 
apply in writing to the political chief of the department where 
the mine is located, or to the Department of the Treasury, setting 
forth the name of the mine, if it has any, the kind of ore it yields, 
the name of the last owner, should he know it, and the names of 
the abutting mines, should there be any. 

Art. 544. The complaint once filed the owners or proprietors 
living at the mine, and those of the abutting mines, shall be cited 
personally to appear. 

Should the owner or proprietor not be found at the place he 
shall be summoned, by proclamation posted for thirty days at 
the most frequented places, and inserting the same three times in 
the official newspaper, and in that of the department, should 
there be any. 




GUATEMALA. 


111 


Art. 545 - at the expiration of the term of thirty days, no 
objection shall have been interposed, the complainant shall be 
notified to have cleared and opened up the work to which article 
503 refers, within forty days, to the end that the conditions named 
in said article, as well as, if possible, the pits and different works 
of the mine, and their condition, together with that of the outside 
works, may be examined and inspected by an engineer or expert. 

After the execution of these operations the political chief shall 
transmit to the Executive the record, in order that the abandoned 
mine may be granted to the complainant in conformity with the 
provisions of this Title. 

Art. 546. The complainant who shall allow, without justifiable 
cause, two months to elapse without pressing the case, shall 
thereby lose the rights accruing to him. The said term should be 
reckoned from the last proceeding had. 

Art. 547. The acquirer of an unworked mine shall be bound to 
deliver to the former owner, or after expert appraisement to pay 
him for the engines, tools, utensils, and other articles or works 
found in the mine, and which cannot be taken therefrom without 
detriment. 

Chapter X.—Temporary Possession and Receiver of Mines. 

Art. 548. Temporary possession shall be given by the judge 
taking cognizance of the adjudication of title to the party praying 
the same, and who, in his judgment, shall have the best right. 

Art. 549. The party acquiring temporary possession of the 
mine is bound to maintain therein at least the work necessary to 
protect title, upon his own responsibility. 

This responsibility is limited to the appraised value of the 
mine at the time it falls into disuse through the fault of the tem¬ 
porary holder. 

Art. 550. The temporary holder cannot make any change in 
the bounds nor in the form in which the mine is laid out. 

Art. 551. Should the temporary holder abandon the mine, pos¬ 
session will be given to the opposing party should he request it. 

Art. 552. The temporary holder shall give bond, should the 
opposing partv require it, to account for the products of the mine, 





112 


GUATEMALA. 


and keep a record of the same and of the expenses in order to 
present it at the proper time to the opposing party in case it is 
decided the latter has the best right. 

Art. 553. Should the temporary holder refuse to furnish the 
bond referred to in the foregoing article the opposing party shall 
have the right to pray for the sequestration of the products, leav¬ 
ing to the former a monthly allowance, to be designated by the 
judge, proportionate to the expenses of the enterprise and the 
maintenance of the holder. 

Art. 554. The opposing party has the right to ask, should he 
not reach an agreement with the holder, that a receiver be ap¬ 
pointed to keep an account of the expenses and products of the 
mine in litigation. ' 

Art. 555. The salary of the receiver shall be designated by the 
parties by agreement with the party named, or by the judge, in 
case of disagreement. 

This salary shall be paid by the party asking for the appoint¬ 
ment of the receiver. 

Art. 556. The obligations of the receiver are: 

1. To keep an accurate account of the products and expenses 
of the mine. 

2. To look to the proper inversion of the funds. 

3. To keep an inventory of all the instruments and tools of 
the mine. 

4. To see that the holder of the mine shall not dispose of the 
products thereof without previous inspection and weighing. 

Art. 557. The receiver shall not give orders in the preliminary 
work ( faenas ), nor contravene those the superintendent shall 
give. 

Chapter XI.—Conditions for the Working of Mines . 

Art. 558. Mines shall be worked and exploited in accordance 
with the rules of the art and the provisions for safety and police 
of the regulations that may be made in the premises. 

Art. 559. In order to make effective the provisions of the fore¬ 
going article mines shall be subject to the supervision of the 
executive authority, which shall determine their inspection in 
the manner and at the times it may deem proper. 





San Rafael. 

A Midway Station, between Guatemala City and La Antigua. 
















GUATEMALA. 


1 13 


Art. 560. Every miner or exploiter shall place at the disposal 
of the engineer or experts appointed to visit the mine the neces¬ 
sary elements to inspect the works thereof. 

He shall also, should the latter require it, exhibit his books, 
plans, pay rolls, and other data that may serve to furnish a full 
knowledge of the work. 

Art. 561. W henever it shall appear from the examination or 
inspection of a mine, made by the engineer or expert, that the 
lives of the workmen or the safety of the work may be jeopar¬ 
dized for any reason, the local authority shall dictate the measures 
leading to the removal of the cause of danger, temporarily sus¬ 
pending the work, should it be necessary. 

Art. 562. The employment of women and children under 
twelve years of age, as laborers within the mines, is prohibited. 

Art. 563. In case of a contravention of the provisions of the 
executive authority, or violation of the foregoing article, a fine 
of not less than ten nor more than one hundred pesos for the first 
offense, and of double the amount for subsequent offenses, shall 
be imposed. 

Art. 564. Mines are bound to afford ventilation for those need¬ 
ing it, and to permit the underground passage of water from 

other mines in the direction of the general drainage system. 

On the surface they shall also suffer the passage necessary for 
che work, and on the surface as well as below ground they shall 
afford all those services and easements which, without obstruct¬ 
ing or impairing their working, inure to the benefit of other min¬ 
ers; all of which is understood to be dependent upon the prior 
payment of damages, to be levied by experts. 

Chapter XII.—Various Provisions. 

Art. 565. The present owners and denouncers of mines shall 

retain the rights they may have required pursuant to the laws 

that have been in force. 

Art. 566. In partnership, preferred mortgage ( avios ), and othei 
contracts relating to the working of mines, the provisions of the 
Commercial, and, in default thereof, of the Civil Code, will be ob¬ 
served. 


Chapter XII. 


MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.—PATENT LAWS. 

For a new country like Guatemala industry is quite advanced, 
but in reality it is still in its infancy, and this is explained by the 
fact that all the efforts of the population are concentrated upon 
the cultivation of the soil. The principal industries are the weav¬ 
ing of jcrga (a coarse woolen stuff), kerseymere and la manta 
(cotton cloth), the manufacture of a good quality of hats, shoes, 
silk and cotton scarfs, furniture, musical instruments, agricul¬ 
tural implements, etc.; but these local industries produce scarcely 
enough to supply the needs and consumption of the interior. 
Therefore, factories of every kind that would be established in 
Guatemala would meet with the most advantageous results, es¬ 
pecially those for stuffs of all classes and other articles of first 
necessity. The Government encourages enterprises of such char¬ 
acter, and offers every possible facility and franchise. Among 
the industries which it would be important to introduce in Guate¬ 
mala can be specially mentioned the following; The propagation 
of the silk worm and the manufacture of silk stuffs in general; 
the extraction of resins, the distillation of medicinal and aro¬ 
matic plants, etc.; the preparation of fruits, and the manufacture 
of oils for exportation; the working of gold, silver, lead, mercury, 
coal and other mines; the fabrication of jarcia (ropes, cordage, 
etc.), matches, paper, window glass, earthenware, porcelain, etc., 
of which there is a considerable consumption in the country as 
well as in the neighboring States of Central America, where these 
industries do not exist; and the felling and exportation of timber 
for buildings, furniture and flooring; also for dyewoods. None of 
these industries could fail to be very remunerative for those who 
would introduce them. 







GUATEMALA. 


Patent Laws. 


115 


Article 20 of the Constitution says: 

Industry is free. The author or inventor enjoys exclusive 
rights to his work for a period of fifteen years, while literary 
rights are perpetual. 

The Executive has the power to grant privileges and extraor¬ 
dinary concessions for a term not exceeding ten years to those 
who establish or introduce new industries in the Republic. 

The law relating to industrial discoveries and inventions is as 
follows: 

Article 1. Every discovery or invention of whatever industrial 
nature gives the discoverer or inventor the exclusive privilege of 
profiting by his invention, or improvement, for the time and un¬ 
der the conditions provided for by this law. 

Art. 2. Every Guatemalan, or foreigner living in Guatemala, 
who invents or improves a machine, instrument or mechanical 
apparatus, manufacture of any kind or method of procedure of 
useful application in the arts or sciences, can obtain from the Gov¬ 
ernment a “Patent of Invention” or “Patent of Improvement” 
that secures to him, during a period of from five to fifteen years, 
the ownership of his invention or improvement. 

Art. 3. To obtain this patent application must be made to the 
Minister of Commerce and Public Works, either personally or 
through lawful attorney, explaining the nature of the invention 
or improvement iully and clearly, and requesting the concession 
of the privilege. 

Art. 4. If the patent is granted the patentee shall file within 
fortv days an accurate drawing of the machine or mechanical ap¬ 
pliance to which the patent refers, or a detailed description of the 
new process, if such be the case, accompanied by a sample of the 
article obtained through it, if such thing is possible and if the ar¬ 
ticle is capable of being preserved. These drawings, explana¬ 
tions and samples shall be kept at the office called Escribama de 
Camara , the official being responsible for their safe keeping, and 
shall serve as evidence in case of dispute. 

Art. 5. Patents may be granted in Guatemala to those persons 
who have obtained them in other countries, except when their 


116 


GUATEMALA. 


discovery or invention has become public property, if there is a 
convention to that effect between the nation from which the ap¬ 
plication proceeds and Guatemala. These patents shall cease at 
the same time as the foreign patents, unless this time shall be 
more than fifteen years, which period this privilege cannot ex¬ 
ceed. 

Art. 6. Every patent grant shall be recorded in a special book, 
which shall be kept at the proper ministry. 

Art. 7. The patent shall contain a copy of the decree granting 
it, and shall cite the present law and explain the invention or im¬ 
provement to which it refers and the time for which it has been 
granted; and it shall be sealed with the seal of the Ministry of 
Commerce. 

Art. 8. The Executive does not declare, when granting a pat¬ 
ent, that the patentee is really the inventor or author of the 
machine, improvement or process to which the patent refers, nor 
does it vouch for its efficacy or usefulness. It belongs to the par¬ 
ties interested in the business to prove the contrary before a court 
of law. 

Art. 9. Every application for a patent shall be published four 
times in one month in the Official Gazette, and the patents grant¬ 
ed shall be published at least twice in the same paper. 

Art. 10. Patents shall be forfeited when the provisions, in ad¬ 
dition to the case of article 4 of this law, have not been complied 
with, and also in the following cases: 

1. When, in the opinion of a competent tribunal, they have 
been granted to the injury of third parties. 

2. When a year has elapsed without the industry or improve¬ 
ment for which they were granted being put into practice. 

3. When the industry or improvement to which the patent re¬ 
fers has been started but abandoned for more than one year. 

4. When the products supplied are inferior to the samples on 
file, owing to adulterations made in the article. 

Art. 11. Patents shall not be granted in the folllowing cases: 

1. When the invention or improvement is derogatory to pre¬ 
viously vested rights, or contrary to public safety and order, or 
to morality and good customs. 





Northern Railroad of Guatemala 

































GUATEMALA. 


11 7 

2 . When the formalities prescribed by law have not been ful¬ 
filled. 

Art. 12. The patent granted shall cover solely the process or 
manner of fabrication or production; not the products themselves, 
which may be manufactured according to other methods and sold. 

Art. 13. Every person has the right of improving the inven¬ 
tions of others, but not of using the inventions themselves except 
with the consent of the owners; nor can the inventor make use of 
improvements and additions made by a subsequent inventor with¬ 
out the consent of the latter. 

Art. 14. The grant of a patent entails the payment to the Na¬ 
tional Treasury of a tax of five to fifty dollars per year during the 
time of the concession, and the patentee must pay this tax annu¬ 
ally in advance. 

Art. 15. When the time of the patent has expired the specifi¬ 
cations shall be published, copies of the drawings and models 
shall be given to whoever may ask for them, at his expense; and 
from that moment the use of the process or invention shall be 
free to all. 

Art. 16. Infringements of patents shall be punished according 
to the provisions of the penal code. 

Art. 17. The Executive shall have the power to grant conces¬ 
sions or favors to useful enterprises which may be established in 
the country, or to persons who propose to establish new indus¬ 
tries or to improve those already existing. 

Art. 18. These concessions or favors shall consist either in an 
absolute exemption from duties on the importation of machinery, 
or raw material, to be used by the favored enterprise, or a reduc¬ 
tion of the same duties, the gratuitous use of some building or 
tract of land belonging to the Nation, exemption from military 
service to tiie laborers and persons engaged in that business, and 
subsidies and premiums in money. 

When the favor consists in either absolute exemption from im¬ 
port duties, or reduction of the same, the directors or managers of 
the favored business shall have to set forth in their applications 
to the respective custom houses for the admission of the machin¬ 
ery or goods sent them: 


I 


118 GUATEMALA. 

1. That the favor was really granted to them by the Govern¬ 
ment. 

2. That the amount of goods or merchandise, where admission 
is requested, is not in excess of the necessities of the enterprise. 

The name of the ship, and the number and marks of the bun¬ 
dles or packages containing the goods must also be stated. 

The application must be accompanied by a statement showing 
the amount of merchandise of the same kind retained in store 
from former importations. 

The officers in charge of the despatch of the merchandise thus 
favored shall take the necessary precautions to avoid fraud, and if 
any discrepancy occurs between the statements of the petition 
and the actual facts the delivery of the goods shall be withheld. 

If the enterprise which has been favored with exemption from 
import duties should cease to exist, either through forfeiture of its 
concession or for any other cause whatever, the managers or di¬ 
rectors of the same shall be bound to file with the respective cus¬ 
tom houses a copy of the formal inventory of all articles of mer¬ 
chandise belonging to the enterprise which may be then in exist¬ 
ence; and if these articles are destined to be used or consumed 
by third parties the said directors or managers shall be bound to 
pay such import duties as may be chargeable upon them under 
the tariff laws. 

Art. 19. Persons desiring to obtain a concession for the estab¬ 
lishment of an enterprise of public utility, or for the introduction 
or improvement of any new business or industry, shall file an ap¬ 
plication to that effect before the Secretary of Fomento, setting 
forth with all clearness the facts and circumstances of the case. 

The Secretary, after hearing the opinion of two or more ex¬ 
perts, shall refer the application to the Council of State. If the re¬ 
port of this body is favorable the concession shall be granted, 
subject, however, to the approval of the Legislative Assembly, 
before which the matter shall be laid on the next ordinary session. 
The grantee can at once commence to enjoy the privileges thus 
granted him; on condition, however, that he shall make no claim 
for damages or indemnification of any kind if the Assembly re¬ 
fuses to approve the concession. 

Every application for a concession shall be published four 



GUATEMALA. 


119 


tunes during one month in the Official Gazette, previous to its 
being submitted to the consideration of the Council of State, so 
as to give an opportunity to all those whose rights may be affect¬ 
ed to appear before the Secretary. 

Art. 20. No special concessions shall be granted for the intro¬ 
duction of machines for domestic use, or other objects of ordinary 
commerce. 

Art. 21. The concessions granted to an enterprise shall be for¬ 
feited if it is discovered that the grantee uses for commercial pur¬ 
poses the materials or articles imported by him. 

Art. 22. In the case provided for by the preceding article, in ad¬ 
dition to the forfeiture of the concession, the grantee shall pay the 
duties corresponding to all the importations previously made, and 
forty per cent, additional. 

Art. 23. Concessions shall also be forfeited in the following 
cases: 

1. When the time within which the grantee was obliged to in¬ 
troduce the industry or improvement, or to commence the works 
to carry the same into practice, has passed in vain. 

2. When the business, after being established, is abandoned 
for more than one year. 

Art. 24. All laws and provisions in conflict with the present law 
are repealed. 

Under a law passed on April 27, 1896, exemption from all 
taxes, whether fiscal or municipal, was granted for ten years, to 
be counted from that date, to all factories, mills, or industrial 
establishments engaged in the Republic in the manufacture of 
cables, ropes or fabrics of pita, hemp, hcncqucn, flax, ramie and 
cotton, and the machinery to be used for that purpose introduced 
into the Republic shall be admitted free. 


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